Harry Potter and the Approaching Darkness (Old Edition)
by FrenziedFalc0n
Summary: The older version, unfinished and not being updated.
1. The Calm Before the Storm

A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction, and I have the entire first story typed already. The first chapter is going to be kind of slow, honestly. The action doesn't start until chapter 2. This story is set from Harry's POV and begins just after the epilogue from Deathly Hallows.

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Harry Potter

Harry looked at around the kitchen, "It seems strange, the house being so empty," he thought out loud. He looked at Ginny, who was moving like a tornado between her writing desk and the kitchen, preparing for the looming party. The adults in the Weasley/Potter clan always got together the night after the school term started, all except Molly and Arthur, who used it primarily as an excuse to steal away all their grandchildren who were still to young for Hogwarts. "You know, I can help with the cooking if you're busy with a story. I promise I won't burn the house down," Harry said, over the sound of the wireless blaring Quidditch Today, Ginny's favorite source of information even though most of what they said came from her reports. It had always been a busy time in the Potter household, the start of the quidditch season and the start of the school year. Ginny was busier now than she had ever been while she was playing professionally, at least back then she had the off season.

"I'm okay," Ginny said, absentmindedly, "just wish we could've apparated back instead of taking that bloody car to King's Cross." Ginny slipped on the damp floor while she was bringing the tray of hot biscuits from the oven, but Harry caught her around the waist, stabilizing her while he snatched a biscuit off the tray and biting into it too soon, burning his tongue.

"You should really slow down, Gin," Harry said with his mouth half full. "You don't want to burn yourself out before the party."

"I'll slow down when the season starts, the preseason's the only time my job is actually better than playing," Ginny said, turning to face him and fixing the collar of his shirt. She pulled away from him and added, almost as an afterthought, "and that shirt needs to be pressed, it's far too wrinkled to wear to the party."

Harry laughed, "But I pressed it this morning, and you sound more like Molly every day." He unbuttoned his shirt and threw it over the back of a chair, "Maybe I'll just go shirtless tonight."

"First, you better be talking about mum, and not Percy's whelp," Ginny said, tossing a grape at him, "and second, as much as I would enjoy that, I'm not sure the pub is going to stand for a shirtless Potter running around."

"I wouldn't dream of comparing you to our niece," Harry replied, running his wand up and down his shirt and watching the wrinkles disappear. "Speaking of nieces, do you think George and Angelina will be bringing Roxie tonight?"

"I doubt it, she always has trouble coping without her brother when he goes to school. Mum will probably have her for the next week until she calms down." Molly usually kept the younger children for as long as she could force their parents to let them go while school was in, Roxie especially. Ginny added, "Do you think we should let Lily stay there for a bit too?"

"Only if Hugo is there too, I don't want Molly spoiling her too much," Harry said, at least if all the other kids were there she'd have to share all the sweets his mother-in-law always had ready for her grandchildren. "I'll go check with Ron," he said, walking to the fireplace and grabbing a pinch of floo powder from the bowl on his way. He stepped into the fire, throwing down the powder and saying quietly "The Loft." He heard Ginny telling him to hurry back as his house spun away and his best friends' loft appeared in its place.

Harry appeared in the fireplace of the loft that Ron and Hermoine bought during the year before they got married. He appeared just in time to get hit by a massive ball of crumpled up parchment. After recovering from the initial shock, he laughed and said, "Still working on it then?"

"I never thought a joke shop would come with so much bloody paperwork. I swear it's like writing one of McGonagal's papers every day," Ron grumbled from his spot on the couch. Harry could see that he had been at it for quite some time by the mountain of parchment he had created around his desk.

"I'm just glad you didn't throw the ink bottle, Ginny would've gone mad if I had to change before the party, I think this is her favorite shirt." Harry looked around, "Where're Hugo and Hermoine?"

Ron chuckled, "Gin always did have a horrible sense of style." He added, "I expect they're at the Burrow by now, left a while ago."

"Let me guess, trying to cheer up Roxanne." Harry said, grabbing the bottle of firewhiskey off of Ron's desk and pouring himself a glass.

"As is tradition," Ron sighed as Harry fell into the large recliner by the television. "I still don't really know how that thing works, Hermoine bought it last year and Hugo loves watching the cartoons on it."

Harry picked up the remote and turned on the power, "The Dursleys had a television, but I never really got to watch anything except the news and whatever Dudley watched," he said.

"Well I don't really care for it too much, just seems like a picture that can't hear you. So knock yourself out," Ron said. Just as Harry found a channel that looked promising, the fireplace blazed green and Arthur Weasley's head appeared in the flames.

"Harry! Ginny said you'd be here, all right?" Arthur said, rather loudly. Ron, who hadn't been paying attention, was startled and spilled ink all over the parchment he was writing on.

"Bloody hell, warn a bloke next time won't you dad?" Ron said, cleaning the ink from his desk and summoning a fresh roll of parchment from the shelf.

"Sorry Ron," Arthur chuckled, "Gin said the two of you were considering leaving Lily with Molly and I, so we decided to make the decision easier by taking it out of your hands. Molly just picked up Lily and you can come retrieve her next Thursday." Harry had expected this, Molly and Arthur had a habit of stealing his children with little to no warning, especially Lily.

"Thanks for the heads up Arthur," Harry said, smiling at his father-in law, "You should come in for a drink before you have too many kids on your hands."

"I'd love to, but I think Molly would blow a gasket," he laughed as he spoke. Arthur loved all things muggle and having Harry and Hermoine in the family had let him learn more about their technology in the years since they finished school than he had in his entire life before then. He never missed a chance to show off his growing knowledge on the subject.

"Well, some other time then," Harry said, "Don't let Lily burn down the Burrow." Harry's face fell momentarily when he remembered the time Bellatrix and a group of death eaters had nearly done just that all those years ago.

"Please, Harry. The Burrow survived Fred and George, you and Ron, and it has survived all the grandchildren so far. I don't think we have anything to worry about with Lily," Arthur laughed.

Ron, having finally finished cleaning the mess on and around his desk asked, "So, what do you have planned for our little monsters?"

"We were going to take them to Diagon Alley to look at the new broomsticks," Arthur said, "and Lily wants to go look at Luna and Rolf's new pet shop."

"Just don't let her bring home anything too dangerous, please," Harry said. He knew all too well that any pet shop of Luna's would have all sorts of creatures that most people wouldn't consider good pets. "I expect all that time with Hagrid has skewed her view of what is and isn't safe." Two small arms appeared suddenly around Arthur's shoulders, pulling him laughing out of the fireplace. When the fireplace had returned to its usual shade of orange, Harry stood up. "We should start getting ready, Merlin knows if we're late Gin and Hermoine will hex us into another dimension."

Ron looked up, surprised, "I was just going to wear this."

"Ink and all?" Harry asked.

"I guess you're right," Ron said, "muggle or magic?"

"Dunno, I assume we're going somewhere with dancing if the girls have their say. So wear something comfortable," Harry said. "Ginny told me to press my shirt too, if that tells you anything." Harry moved back to the fireplace and spun out of the loft.

"That was faster than expected," his wife's voice called from her desk. Harry noted that she was sitting down, a change of pace from when he left and she was practically running back and forth through the kitchen. She looked tired, and Harry knew why. She had barely slept all summer, mostly from being worried about Albus. Albus looked so much like Harry that when they went out the same whispers that always followed Harry tended to follow Al too. Ginny noticed this, even though usually Albus didn't, and she worried that when he got to Hogwarts he wouldn't be able to escape the publicity that came with being the child of the "chosen one".

"Ron was pretty distracted, Hermoine's going to lose it when she sees how much parchment he's wasted," Harry replied. Then, recognizing the old piece of parchment unfolded on the desk in front of her, he asked, "Has the sorting started yet?" He looked over her shoulder and noticed that the new dots that indicated the first years were just outside the great hall. He tried to find Albus in the group, but there were too many dots and names to find him.

Harry took a seat next to Ginny and settled in to watch the ceremony. They had done this twice since they got married; once when Teddy started, and again on James' first year. The first years' dots started walking into the great hall, Ginny nudged him and pointed to a pair of dots near the back of the group. The two dots read _Albus Potter_ and _Rose Weasley_ , Harry noticed that a dot labelled _Scorpius Malfoy_ was lagging very far behind the group. They watched the dots of the students walk, one by one, to the front, each one stopping beside the _Neville Longbottom_ labelled dot, then walking to a table to take a seat. The first interesting moment came when Scorpius Malfoy went to the front, then almost immediately moved to take his seat at the Hufflepuff table. Ginny gasped at this turn of events and Harry started laughing uncontrollably. "Draco is going to lose his shit," Harry said, still laughing, "Hufflepuff." By the time Harry managed to control himself, Albus was walking slowly down the middle aisle to take his turn with the sorting hat. After around a minute, which seemed like hours, Albus' dot practically flew to the Gryffindor table and took the seat next to James. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, for all his talk about the house not mattering he couldn't help hoping that his children would follow him to Gryffindor. Rose ended up in Gryffindor also, which was no surprise at all considering Ron was always putting down the other houses.

After the sorting was over, Harry noticed a dot labelled _Draco Malfoy_ leaving the staff table. Ginny had apparently noticed the same thing because her voice was icy when she next spoke. "What the hell is that slimy little git doing there?"

"Well, my guess is he's the new potions professor," Harry said, with an amused look. "I guess old Slughorn really couldn't teach forever."

"You're not at all surprised by this?" Ginny asked, clearly distressed, "You hated Draco, and now he's going to be teaching our children!" She was practically hysterical at this point.

"Obviously, I'm not thrilled about it, but I'm confident that if Draco tries anything out of line… Neville will give him hell," Harry said calmly, "Plus, with all the Weasleys and Potters there this year he'd have to be mad to treat any of them worse than he treats other students. Who knows, it'll probably be good for our everyone, Draco _was_ always decent at potions."

"Well I still don't like it." Ginny fumed "Draco was an absolute horror in school, what if he's still the same git he was back then?"

Harry laughed, "If he is, then Neville or one of the other kids will let us know, and you can bring back your famous bat bogey hex again." Ginny had been pacing and Harry pulled her into the chair with him.

"You're lucky I'm not using it right now, Harry," she said. Then a strange look crossed her face, "Ron is going to have a fit, who's going to tell him? You or me?"

Harry groaned, "I think we should let one of the kids tell him, that way he can't shoot the messenger."

"You read my mind."


	2. The Dinner Disaster

A/N: I decided to go ahead and post a second chapter today, so that we could get most of the background information out of the way. There are definitely going to be some slower moving chapters in this story, but I don't think this is one of them. Now, without further ado, let's get into it. Also, a friend told me I needed to find a beta to read my chapters before I publish them, so I'll be trying to make that happen soon.

 _Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter_

Harry and Ginny arrived at the restaurant much earlier than the rest of their party, and Harry immediately felt underdressed. Only half the tables were in use, but everyone in the building was very well dressed; Harry had only worn a simple button down shirt and jeans. Thankfully they had an entire section reserved for the night far away from all the muggle patrons. Harry noticed a large family sitting at a table across the room and he could've sworn all the adults were staring at them as they walked in. He brushed this off, as it was not abnormal for people to stare at him, especially when he was with Ginny. The first group from their party arrived twenty minutes later when Teddy, George, and Angelina walked in. Teddy's hair was a bright green color tonight, which stood out entirely in the muggle restaurant. Harry noted that the family he had seen earlier didn't even glance twice at the green haired teenager, even when he laughed and a red stripe ran through it. The rest of the Weasleys arrived shortly after; Ron and Hermoine, Bill and Fleur, and finally Percy and Audrey. They were surprised by the arrival of Luna and Rolf who somehow managed to be the only two in their party that knew how to dress appropriately for the restaurant they had chosen.

Harry ordered 6 bottles of wine for the table, and after about ten minutes Ron had attempted to order everyone a shot of firewhiskey, when the waitress told him they had Fireball Whiskey he replied, "Close enough," too loudly. Thankfully Harry had put silencing charms around their section so they didn't disturb any of the other customers. After everyone had attempted to take down the shots (some unsuccessfully), they all ordered their meals.

After close to 45 minutes at the restaurant, everyone was very full and very drunk. George and Teddy had levitated their chairs and were racing them around the table while Hermoine and Luna were arguing about all the various creatures Luna sold in her store. Harry and Ron were both laughing like madmen over how expensive the check was, and Rolf was telling anyone who would listen about his recent adventure to the United States. Harry decided it was time to go pay the bill before anyone noticed Teddy and George's floating chair race. He stood up and was walking to the counter where their waitress stood when the entire room went dark. All the conversation stopped and Harry heard the sound of two chairs landing softly on the floor. He moved more quietly than before toward where he knew the hostess was standing. Just as he reached the stand, though, an almost blinding burst of red light flew through the door. Harry's reflexes kicked in and he was just about to throw a disarming spell in the direction of the caster, when he realized he obviously wasn't the target. The spell was heading straight for the large family he'd seen when they'd arrived. Harry was in the middle of shouting for them to get down when one of the men at the table that was facing away from the spell, spun on the spot and deflected the spell straight at Harry. Harry dove behind the hostess stand and cast _lumos maxima_ in the direction the first spell had come from. What he saw next almost made him lose his bearing.

At least a dozen men, all over six feet tall, were standing at the door with their wands raised. Harry only had time to register that none of them seemed to have any distinguishing features, in fact they all looked almost exactly alike, before all hell broke loose. Harry watched as the men at the door fired a barrage of spells, some of which he didn't even recognize, at the family in the corner. For their part, the family held their own without much trouble. Even the children were throwing hexes at their attackers. After more than 3 minutes, the first killing curse flew from the group of men at the door.

Seeing the telling green light fly across the room seemed to break all of the Weasleys and Harry out of the trance they were in. A wall of spells and hexes flew through the air as they joined the fight. More than a few of them found their mark. The men at the door realized, too late, that they were now outnumbered at least two to one, and began to retreat, hurling curses over their shoulders as they ran. When the last one left the building, the lights came back on and Harry surveyed the damage to the restaurant.

At least three of the wait staff laid on the floor, including the woman who had been waiting on their table. Harry checked quickly and found that they were still alive. The only fatality, it appeared, was the hostess, who had been hit by a large shard of glass from the doors. Harry reached down, closed her eyes, and pulled the glass from her throat, magically sealing the wound and cleaning the blood. He turned around and came face to face with his wife, and two of the men from the table, glaring at each other.

"Y'all sure waited long enough to jump in, there." One of the men, a fairly tall man with blonde hair slicked back, said. He seemed to be close to Harry's age and he looked a lot like Malfoy, but less pale and presumably with better manners.

"Well we couldn't really tell which of you were the good guys, we only joined in at all because of the killing curse." Ginny retorted. "Who are you, better yet, who are they?"

"The name's Tyler, and this is Adam," He said, motioning toward his companion. Harry studied Adam and Tyler with curiosity, Tyler was obviously the younger of the two, he seemed almost too young to be speaking for their group. Adam wore the same worried look that Harry knew he often wore himself, he seemed to be more interested in making sure the rest of his party was safe than he was in the conversation.

"And what, Tyler, are you all doing so far from home?" Ginny asked, "and why were those men trying to kill you?"

"Man." Adam said, "singular. Actually, it could be a woman I reckon."

"But there were at least twelve of them here," Ginny said.

"Those were golems, they look like men, and as far as we can tell they're almost exactly like you and me, but they don't have any memories, and they obviously don't have any free will. I imagine when those three wake up, they'll be just as blank as can be, won't even remember the fight," Tyler said. Harry wiped the sweat off of his forehead, moving his hair far enough to the side that he revealed his scar. Tyler's eyes lit up "Holy shit, you're Harry Potter," he said, almost in awe.

"The one and only," Harry said, he hadn't realized his reputation went as far as wherever these men were from. "You said those were golems, but somebody has to be controlling them, right?" The rest of the two groups had gathered around them by now. A woman with long black hair spoke next.

"That's the million-dollar question, we've been trying to figure that out for years," She said, "I'm Claire by the way, Claire Smith, Adam's wife. My husband brought us here thinking we could escape them by leaving the country." She held out her right hand, which Ginny and Harry both took in turn.

"Listen, I'm sure we're all really glad to meet each other," Ron said, impatient, "but can't we do all the introductions somewhere else? I don't want to be here when all the muggles wake up."

They all agreed, and together they walked out of the restaurant. Each of the Weasleys grabbed a newcomer and apparated to Harry and Ginny's house in Godrics Hollow. Harry took one last look at the scene he was leaving behind, and as an afterthought, grabbed one of the stunned attackers off of the floor and spun on the spot, disappearing with a crack.

After an hour with their new guests, Harry had learned that they were all from different parts of the United States. Adam and Claire were from California and had four children, twin boys (Ian and Ryan) both with brown hair and the darkest brown eyes Harry had ever seen, they were almost all black, Susan, who was two years younger than the twins and had short black hair, and finally, Michael who Harry hadn't heard speak as of yet and seemed to be afraid of everything around him. There was Kayla and Zach Findlay, two of the other adults, and their son Jared. They were from Georgia, Atlanta to be precise. And of course, Tyler Cherry and his daughter Payton from Tennessee.

Harry learned that Tyler and Adam spent nine years serving in the American Magical Armed Forces, where they fought alongside the muggle military forces in order to minimize casualties and fight off any wizards that happened to be working against them without the muggles realizing what was happening. They then spent a year guarding the American Minister of Magic, where they met Zach. He also learned that soon after they took the job guarding the Minister, he went "bat shit crazy" according to Tyler, and killed over a dozen muggles in broad daylight. Of course he was taken out of power, but not before he took down over half of his "Secret Service". Only ten of his guards were left standing after the battle, they had all been released by his successor and now only three of them were left. Adam explained that shortly after, the other members of their team started dying in the attacks, nobody ever saw the attackers. Eventually, people started calling whoever was behind it _The Darkness_. He told Harry how the three of the three families had come together to protect each other, and it had all worked fine.

"It all went well, that is, until a month ago when the darkness attacked our safehouse in the middle of the night. Most of us were asleep, Tyler and his wife, Kaitlyn, were awake keeping watch. They woke us up and we fought for almost an hour before there were too many of them. So we retreated, but right before we could apparate out of there…" Adam paused, looking at Tyler.

Tyler finished for him, "Kaitlyn got hit by a stunner as the rest of us apparated and I splinched myself trying to stop my turn." He showed Harry his shoulder, where the mark of a recently healed gash stood out against his skin.

Adam continued his story, "From there we decided to avoid using magic if we could. We figured that was how they were tracking us. We boarded a cruise ship, and came to Europe hoping they wouldn't follow us. I guess you already saw how that turned out," he finished.

Harry reflected on his story, "How did it find you so quickly? Especially since you're not using magic," he asked.

"We…" Adam said bowing his head, "Have absolutely no idea."

Harry yawned and looked at his watch, "3 AM? I should get at least a little sleep before tomorrow, and you lot should too. We don't have enough bedrooms for everyone to have their own, but my children aren't here right now so you can split up between their rooms and the guest room."

The Weasleys, other than Ron and Hermoine, all left the house. Ron and Hermoine followed Harry and Ginny to the bedroom, saying they would use the bedroom fireplace to go home. Once they were all inside, Harry shut the door, "Bloody hell," Ron said, "I thought we were done with all this dark wizard nonsense."

" And now we've gone one that is literally known as _The Darkness_ , how cliché is that?" Ginny offered.

"What should we do Harry?" Hermoine asked, noticing the look on Harry's face.

"I don't know, I'm going to consider their story at work tomorrow, and we'll need to put them up somewhere with a fidelius charm. What about the beach house?" Harry asked.

"I think we should use your old apartment, it's closer and in a muggle area so less magical eyes around," Ginny said.

"That could work. I think we should see if the children can go to Hogwarts until this is over. It's the safest place for them I think," Hermoine said, "I'll owl Neville and Minerva to see what they can do."

"You do remember McGonagall isn't the headmistress anymore?" Ron asked, "what could she really do?" Harry noticed Ron seemed to already be on edge, he obviously never thought they would be in this position again. Harry couldn't blame him, though, he doubted anyone would've expected this.

"You think just because she retired, doesn't mean she doesn't have a hand in running it Ronald." Hermoine stated. "If I had to guess, I'd say Minerva has more influence than Kingsley on the way Hogwarts is run."

"You're probably right, I'm still a little tipsy from earlier I think," Ron said, laughing slightly.

"Let's all sleep it off, and figure out what to do tomorrow," Harry said. Ron and Hermoine stepped into the fireplace and spun out of sight. Harry looked for Ginny and found her, already sleeping soundly on the bed, still in the same clothes she had worn to the restaurant earlier in the evening. Harry kicked off his tennis shoes, and fell onto the bed next to her, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.


	3. Mad House

**A/N:** A little warning, I considered leaving this chapter out entirely. But, as it's the most interaction we'll see between the two groups for a while, I decided to include it. I enjoyed reading the reviews on the last two chapters and look forward to more.

 **Disclaimer:** I do NOT own Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Ron Weasley, or any number of people/places/things in this story.

"It's not much," Harry said gesturing around the sitting room in his old apartment, "But I've kept it furnished just in case my family needed a place to lay low. After the last war we've all been overly cautious I guess. I'm the secret keeper, so it's unlikely that whoever is hunting you will be able to find it." Harry had kept up his old apartment, in part, because it was his first place of his own, but mostly because Ginny insisted that they needed a place to go if any of Voldemort's followers decided to come out of hiding and attack Harry or their family.

"It's perfect, we don't need a terribly large amount of space," Claire said as she watched all the children run around claiming rooms for themselves. "Thank you, so much Harry. Not many people would take in three families of strangers out of the blue."

"It's no problem, really. I've been told I have a thing for playing the hero," Harry said, chuckling, "this is nothing compared to some of the things I got into in school."

"Well in any case, we're lucky you were in that restaurant when they found us," Adam said from across the room.

"I've got to get to work, if you all need anything just floo the house we came from, Ginny will help you out," Harry said as he stepped into the fire and spun out of sight.

Harry reappeared in his house to the sound of half the adults in the Weasley family arguing over what to do with the apparently still stunned golem from the night before. The first voice belonged to Percy. "We have to bring it to the ministry. Somebody there will know what to do."

George responded, "And tell them what, that we nearly destroyed a restaurant saving a group of Americans from a group of lookalikes in a dark cloud? Some story that will make for the papers." George still mistrusted the ministry and the press after the war. Most of them did, honestly. It was hard not to.

Arthur chimed in, "Maybe we could tell Kingsley and just people in the ministry that we trust."

"I'm not sure if we should let this one leave the family yet," Harry said, startling the group sitting around his kitchen table. They must not have heard him floo in. "We can't bring any more people into this than absolutely necessary. This thing, whatever it is, tracked them across the Atlantic in no time at all, I think telling anyone will just put them even more at risk."

"Agreed," Charlie said. _When did Charlie get here?_ Harry thought to himself. Charlie continued, "Now, what do we do with… it?" He pointed at the unconscious body of the golem.

"I've got an idea about that, too." Harry said, "We know that whoever is controlling the golems has to be giving them orders somehow, maybe we could find a way to trace where the orders are coming from?"

"Like on those muggle television shows about the cops?" Arthur asked?

"Exactly like that Arthur, I think we need to talk to Luna." Harry replied, this was going to be interesting.

Harry went to work that day, all in all it was just another day at the office. Being Head Auror wasn't nearly as exciting as being out in the field. Harry felt trapped behind a desk, covered with mountains of paperwork. Today, while he worked through all the paperwork on his desk, he thought about how the conversation with Luna was going to go this evening. He didn't want to involve her any more than necessary. Luna had already paid a high enough price for being friendly with Harry during the last war, he didn't want to put her through anything else like Malfoy Manor again. But, Luna was his best chance at finding what he was looking for.

After work, he made his way to Diagon Alley and Luna's Shop. He walked in and was greeted by the most unusual array of creatures. Luna's shop was much more exotic than the pet shop from his days in Hogwarts, she still had owls, cats, and all the other common pets. But, she also kept miniature dragons (only growing to around the size of dogs), large snakes (non-lethal, of course), and she even had a few three-headed dogs, like the one Hagrid used to have. Apparently, these were very popular with the Hogwarts students, Luna had charmed them to grow only to about knee high, and they seemed to be just like any other dog.

Luna's voice carried from the back of the shop, "I was wondering when you would come into the shop Harry. Last night was very exciting, was that battle the end of something or the beginning?"

"Somewhere in the middle I'd say," Harry said, "I had a quick question for you Luna. Do you know of an animal that could follow a specific spell's magical signature back to the wizard who cast it?"

"Trying to find your way through the darkness?" Luna said, musically.

"You could say that," Harry chuckled, it always seemed that Luna knew more than she let on, "do you know of any animal that could do what I need?"

"There may be something, Rolf left this morning to go study a new breed of Cerberus in the arctic circle, I'll send him an owl and see what he can do for you," Luna said, picking up a small owl and letting it fly around her arm before landing on her shoulder, hooting merrily.

"Thanks Luna, let me know what you find out," Harry said. He was just about to turn and leave, when he heard a familiar voice yell out from the entrance.

"Dad!" came the voice of Lily Potter, his youngest daughter, "what are you doing here? Are we getting a new pet?" Lily was already running around the store looking at all the creatures on display. She stopped at one of the three headed dogs, it was pure white. "I like this one, dad. Can I get it?" Harry couldn't believe the timing, he couldn't tell Lily why he was really there, she's too young.

"You'll need a good guard dog soon, Harry," Luna's voice called, "Potters always go for the snowy ones it seems." Lily was already playing with the dog on the floor of the shop.

"Dad look! It has a lightning bolt too," she said, showing harry the pup's stomach. It really did have a black lightning shaped mark on its belly. That was the last straw for Harry's restraint.

"It'll need a name," Harry told her, "and you'll need to feed it and take it for walks. It's your responsibility now." Lily was so excited she let out a small scream.

"I'm going to name it Strike, I think." She said, hugging the pup much too tightly. It didn't seem to mind.

Harry went home that night to find Albus' owl perched in the window. Ginny was holding an envelope. "He wrote already?" he asked, he hadn't expected owls from the children until at least a week into the year. James usually didn't write until he needed help with something or ran out of spending money. "Everything alright?" he asked, partly asking about Albus' letter and partly wondering if their guests had contacted them during the day.

"I think he's doing well, it's only been a day though so he hasn't had to do anything yet really." Ginny said, still looking at the letter, "sounds like he's just as excited to be in Gryffindor as we were to see him there on the map." She handed Harry the letter and he read:

 _Mum and Dad_

 _I got into Gryffindor! I was really nervous before we went in for the sorting, but we just had to put a hat on. It talked in my head and said Potters were always hard to place, was it talking about you? The common room looks almost exactly like you described it still, I guess Hogwarts doesn't really change too often. James says "hiya", I've got Potions first tomorrow, there's a new professor over potions too, that blonde man you and uncle Ron were talking about at Kings Cross, his son got put in Hufflepuff by the way. Wasn't his dad in Slytherin? Anyway, it's late and I've got to sleep, I'll write again soon, Bye_

 _Albus_

"So, he would've had Malfoy today, maybe we should write back and ask how it was," Harry said, "maybe Malfoy won't be so bad as a teacher."

Ginny crossed her arms, "I wrote him about that as soon as I woke up today. James too."

"You're that worried about it? I mean we survived Snape, Draco should be easy enough for Albus and James. Hell, I'd be more worried about Draco not surviving James than the other way around." Harry laughed as he poured himself a glass of water. "Speaking of James, we should get him a new broom I think, if he tries out for Gryffindor's house team. That old Cleansweep won't win us any House Cups."

Ginny chuckled, "What were you thinking? A newer Cleansweep? Or a Nimbus? I can probably get one of the Harpies' brooms from last season if he's willing to fly on a 'girls broom'."

Harry thought for a moment, "I know it's expensive, but why don't we get him one of those brooms he was drooling over at the world cup. You know, the one the USA was using. The Starsweeper XXI I think it was."

"Are you sure, you know that means he'll have a faster broom than your Firebolt. He might actually beat you when we play at the Burrow. You think you can handle that?" Ginny replied, "He'll have to play seeker with a broom like that at school."

"Exactly," Harry said smugly, he and Ginny had been trying to predict which of their old positions James would play. Just as he was going to tell her that they couldn't have their firstborn playing a lowly position like chaser, the same dark cloud from the night before descended on the Potter household. Harry and Ginny each pulled their wands and stood back to back in their kitchen, waiting for the attack.

The attack, however, never arrived. After close to five minutes, the darkness abated and everything was as it was moments before. Harry turned to face Ginny, who still had her wand out, ready to attack. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him, "It already found the last place they were before going to the apartment, I'm going to go warn them." Harry said, adding, "you should go to the Burrow, I'll set up stronger defenses around the house and come let you know when it's safe."

"I'm staying with you," Ginny said, defiant. "Whatever is chasing our new houseguests obviously isn't interested in us at all. Besides, this is the most excitement I've had since I retired."

Harry resigned, "Oh well, just stay close Gin." He had given up on trying to keep his wife out of dangerous situations years ago, after spending a few minutes making sure everything in the house was still in place, they each stepped into the fireplace and appeared in their old apartment. They arrived to the sight of ten wands pointed in their direction. "Whoa Whoa, it's just us," Harry said, putting his hands up like the muggles did in crime shows. He stepped out of the fireplace just in time to avoid getting trampled by Ginny.

"What's this then?" She said calmly, noticing the wands that were still pointed at the pair of them. "That's a great way for you lot to repay us for our hospitality. Wands in our faces when we come to warn you that our home just got invaded by your _Darkness_." She said the last word with as much anger as she could muster. The group stood in stunned silence, contemplating what this meant, until Adam finally spoke up.

"It was in your home?" He asked, "It's never happened that fast before, usually we stay ahead of it for weeks before it finds us again." If it was possible, the group of Americans looked more nervous than they had the night Harry met them.

"Yes," Harry said, breaking the nervous silence, "It showed up, just like at the restaurant. It got pitch black, then nothing happened for a while, until it lifted."

"So it didn't attack? That's never happened before, I wonder what it was doing." Claire said, joining the conversation. "Usually it stays dark for a matter of seconds, then the spells start flying."

"Well this time I don't think there was even a golem in there, just the dark cloud." Harry said, studying the reactions of the Americans. He noticed that while the majority of them looked nervous, Tyler looked more curious than anything else. "What are you thinking?" He asked, making eye contact with the blonde man.

He opened his mouth to reply when the flames in the fireplace turned bright green, signaling the arrival of someone else. Everyone's wand raised, instinctively, to point at the fireplace. After a moment, Harry relaxed as he saw Ron Weasley practically run out of the fireplace, followed by Hermoine Granger. Ron looked around and noticed all the wands pointed at them. "Bloody hell, what a warm welcome. We come in peace." He said, his hands up in mock surrender.

"Oh please, wands down people." Hermoine said, "we just had a, um, _Dark_ visitor at our flat."

"You too?" Harry, Ginny, and Adam all said at once.

Everyone started whispering amongst themselves. Harry had always thought that a group of people whispering was much louder than a group yelling at each other. "Okay everyone, calm down. Ron, Hermoine, what happened?"

They told a very similar story to Harry and Ginny's, "Then, we came here to face the inquisitorial squad pointing wands in our faces." Harry took a moment to consider what they said before Adam stood up and started pacing.

"So, if they've already found both of your homes, how long is it going to be before they find this place?" Harry smirked at this.

"Let me put it this way, I've been holed up here with the entire magical Britain looking for me, and never once has anyone found this place. I think it may be the safest place in Europe, aside from Hogwarts of course." Harry said.

"Hogwarts?" the youngest child asked, curious.

Ginny replied, "It's the school here, it's like the Salem Institute where you're from." She paused for a moment before adding, in a whisper, "Except it's in a castle." All the children looked at each other and back at Ginny, clearly looking for more information. Before she could continue talking about the school, though, Harry cut in.

"Speaking of Hogwarts, have you talked to the headmaster Hermoine?" Hermoine looked back at him, almost as if she had no clue what he was talking about, before she remembered.

"Oh yes, I did contact the school today, and they are willing to take on all of the children that are of age. Provided we agree to one condition." Hermoine said, she looked as though she was about to continue when Claire interrupted her.

"Hold on, what children are you talking about? Surely not ours." She said, not nearly as confident as every other time Harry had heard her speak.

"We talked about it and decided that, if you all agree to it, we should send the school aged children to Hogwarts. This apartment is entirely too crowded with all of you in it, and Hogwarts is the most protected place, possibly in the world." Hermoine said, looking into the eyes of all the adults in the room, one by one.

"Also, life on the run is not great for kids," Harry said, nudging Ron with his elbow.

"Yeah take it from us, our best, most impressionable years were spent running from a vindictive dark wizard." Ron added, driving the point home.

"This is a big decision, we'll give you time to think on it." Harry said finally, walking toward the fireplace when a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"No." The voice belonged to Claire, Harry spun on the spot and noted that she had the same determined look in her eyes that he'd seen in Ginny many times. "We don't need time to think on it, they'll go."

Harry and his friends spent the next few hours explaining how Hogwarts worked and telling stories from their time there. They left out a good many of the more exciting details, thinking that these children had enough excitement in their life already. Harry was just in the middle of telling the story of the Triwizard Tournament, when he remembered something Hermoine said earlier. "What's the one condition," He interrupted his story to ask, startling Hermoine.

"Oh, that. I completely forgot to tell you." She started, before pausing nervously, "Now, Harry, I know we've talked about this before, but don't refuse too quickly. They want you to teach."

Harry groaned, not this again. At least once a year, he got an owl from the school asking him to come teach. He thought it was over when he agreed to give the odd talk about Defense to the OWL and NEWT level students before they tested. It was clear now that he was wrong. "Don't they already have a Defense professor?" He asked, hoping to find something to get him out of making the agreement.

"They do, but he's agreed to split the classes with you for this year and leave at the end. He apparently wants to travel with Rolf and learn more about dark creatures." Hermoine said. She then went into great detail about all of her ideas for Harry's classes as if he had already accepted the job.

"If it gets the children into Hogwarts, I'll do it. I'll need at least a couple weeks to take care of any loose ends at work. I'll owl the school in the morning." Harry said, resigned to his fate.

"At least if you're at the school, you can keep an eye on our favorite new potions master." Ginny said, sounding excited. "And James might finally start taking his classes seriously with one of us already at the school."

"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Gin." Ron said, laughing. "In case you forgot, your husband and I weren't known for taking schoolwork seriously."

It was true, Harry thought, which is why he was always surprised when they asked him to teach. He and Ron had spent most of their time at Hogwarts breaking nearly every school rule and causing all sorts of trouble. If the owls he received from Neville and Minerva the year before were anything to go on, his oldest son was quite the troublemaker himself.

After about another hour documenting the adventures they had at Hogwarts, it was time to go home. The four got up and said their goodbyes to their new friends. As they were walking to the fireplace, though, it changed to green once again.

"What the.." Ron said, before a cold, familiar voice came through the connection.

"Hello, Potter. I thought you were done ruining my plans. No matter, though, if you stop harboring my targets, this transgression will be forgiven and I will allow you to live your life in peace. If you refuse, however, I will take away everything, and everyone that has ever been important to you."

Harry's shock at hearing the voice disappeared, and was replaced by confusion. It had to be a trick of some kind, Severus Snape was dead.

"What did you hear, Harry?" He turned to face his friends, who were already deep in conversation. Apparently, he had been lost in thought for the beginning.

"Didn't you hear it?" He asked, incredulous.

Hermoine was the only one to answer the question, "It seems that we all heard different voices, and our new friends didn't hear a thing."

"So, it was all in our heads?" Harry asked, he hated when anything got into his head.

"Looks that way mate, who did you hear?" Ron said, looking curious and bit more pale than normal.

Harry told them, "SNAPE?" they all asked in unison. "What is that about?"

Harry replied, "I don't know, but I intend to find out."

Harry looked at Ginny, she was smiling. "Well, at least we know our little stalker hasn't done his homework." She said, it seemed like she was holding in a laugh.

"What do you mean?" Hermoine asked.

"I mean, Hermoine, that if whoever this is knew anything about the three of you, they would know that threats and the like don't really go over well. Gryffindors don't usually respond well to threats." Harry knew two things in that moment. One, his wife was correct, threats had a way of doing the exact opposite of what they were intended to around people in their house. Second, his life was going to become much more interesting soon.


	4. Prototype

A/N: I've been uploading a bit more often than I planned, but that's just because I want to get the tedious early elements out of the way as quickly as possible. Chapters 5 and 6 will be out tomorrow and the rest will come out more slowly. Also **Albus Potter and the Approaching Darkness** Chapter 1 will be coming out at some point over the weekend. It'll go alongside Chapters 1-6 of this story.

Harry and Ron walked down the row of shops in Diagon Alley, looking in the windows as they passed. "I think we have everything. I'm sure Hermoine has multiple copies of all the school books anyway if we forgot one," Harry said, looking at the lists in his hands.

Ron chuckled, "I think she probably has signed copies of all of them by now," He said. "We've got some time to kill now, what do you say to grabbing lunch at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"I've got a better idea," Harry said, gesturing toward Quality Quidditch Supplies, "Mason won't want to miss a chance to try and sell you that new Cleansweep you're always eyeing." They walked across to the shop entrance and before they had even touched the door it opened and the smiling face of the shop owner, Mason Lockhart, opened the door. Mason was a squib cousin of Gilderoy Lockhart, a terrible teacher that had landed himself in St. Mungo's during Harry's second year at Hogwarts.

"Mr. Potter!" He exclaimed, before saying jovially, "I've got exactly what you're looking for today!" He turned to face Ron, "And Mr. Weasley, are you here too look at the latest Cleansweep again? I tell you, if you wait too much longer there'll be a new one and you'll have missed the window."

He didn't wait long enough for either of them to respond before rushing through a door to the back of the shop. "What's with him?" Harry asked, Mason almost never left them alone for more than a moment when they came to his shop. He was always trying to make a sale. Ron shrugged and walked over to a display of the Firebolt Supreme II, Harry followed him, even though the Firebolt he had was plenty fast, there was something about the newest model that just made him want to throw away his wages for a year and fly it out of the shop. They walked from display to display, talking about the brooms and talking each other out of impulse buying one. They were at a display for the Nimbus 3001 when Mason walked back into the shop carrying two packages. "It came in already?" Harry asked, he hadn't expected James' broom to arrive for at least another couple weeks.

"Well, you did order the rush shipping." Mason replied, "They came in yesterday."

"They?" Harry asked, he was only expecting one package.

"Yes, both are for you. Well, that may not be entirely true, this one is addressed to your wife. It's unmarked other than the address though, so I'm very curious. Is there any chance I could talk you into opening it here so I can see?" Mason said, eyeing the package eagerly.

"Can't do, Mason. My wife probably wouldn't take me opening her mail very well. Especially without her." Harry said, smirking at the shopkeeper. "I'll come back by and let you know what it was."

"Please do, I don't often get unmarked packages here. Usually, there's branding all over the boxes." Mason said before turning to Ron, "are you going to purchase it this time, Mr. Weasley?"

Ron had picked up the box for the Cleansweep Sixteen, and looked like he was fighting an internal battle over whether he wanted to buy it. "Oh, go ahead and buy it Ron," Harry said, "Looking at it all the time is going to drive you mental." Ron placed it on the counter and gave Mason his Gringotts account information.

"Let's not take it out until tomorrow, Mason. So I can tell Hermoine before she sees that." Mason nodded and thanked Harry and Ron for stopping by. They left the store and walked back to the apparition point. "Your place, or mine?" Ron asked.

"Neither, Ginny's at the Burrow. I want to go try out James' new broom, and I have to know what's in this," Harry replied, holding up the unmarked package. "Any guesses?"

Ron shrugged, "No clue, mate. It was addressed to Ginny so it's probably something for her work." They reached the apparition point and turned on the spot. Inside the Burrow, Molly and Ginny heard two faint _pops_ signaling their arrival.

Harry and Ron walked into the house, carrying their packages into the kitchen, where they placed them on the table. "We come baring gifts," Harry said, walking over to where Ginny was cutting onions and kissing her on the cheek. He tasted salt on her cheek, which signified the tears that always occurred when she cut them. "Mason gave me an odd package for you, it doesn't say where it's from though. He wanted me to open it in the shop. I refused."

"Smart move, Potter." Ginny said, moving to the table and pulling at the side of the package. She continued, "I know you said you would be okay with James having a faster broom than you, but I don't think I could take all of his bragging, so I took matters into my own hands." She opened the package and pulled out two long black boxes, each with a silver numeral III on the top. She pushed one across to Harry.

"What's this?" He asked, eyeing the box in his hands. Ginny smirked at him.

"Open it, and find out," she said, her eyes seemed like they were already laughing. He opened the package, and gasped.

"Ginny, how did you," Words failed him as he reached into the package and pulled out a Firebolt Supreme III.

Harry heard Ron make the same gasping sound he had just heard escape his own lips, "Bloody hell Ginny, the Supreme II just came out, how did you get these?"

Harry found that out before she answered, when he rolled the broomstick over in his hand admiring it and found an inscription.

 _If you can't handle it, just return it Harry. -Victor Krum_

"Krum? Why would he send us these?" Harry asked, confused.

"He helps me with stories about the Bulgarian team sometimes, in exchange for me keeping his name out of the papers as much as possible." Ginny said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "He offered to let us test these before they're released, if we send them a list of any issues we have with them."

"Well that sounds dangerous, let's go try them out. Race you to the paddock." Harry said.

"One moment, Ron, what's that?" Ginny asked, looking at the new Cleansweep. "You didn't."

"What, I can't buy a new broom every once in a while?" Ron asked sarcastically, "I've nearly destroyed my poor Cleansweep eleven."

Ginny sighed, "No, I mean you didn't, because there's one of these waiting for you at home. I'm sure Hermoine picked it up as it arrived at the shop."

"Oh no," Ron said, but he sounded more excited than worried, "I'll have some explaining to do tomorrow then." He smiled at Harry, "Give me a head start, will you mate?" and he sprinted outside, pulling his new broom from the package and kicking off. Harry and Ginny followed him, giving him a few seconds' head start before following him into the sky and to the small paddock where the Weasley family played quidditch on occasion.

They flew for nearly four hours, taking turns on each of the new brooms. The new Firebolts were easily the fastest in the lot, but they weren't nearly as comfortable as Harry was used to. As they landed at the path to the Burrow, Harry noticed six figures dressed in the black robes of the Unspeakables walking toward them. Harry had dealt extensively with the Unspeakables in his time as the head of the Auror department, and even more often as the head of the DMLE, but in all that time he had never seen so many of them in one place. It was unnerving.

"Hello, Mr. Potter." The tall one in the front said, stopping nearly ten feet from where Harry, Ginny, and Ron were standing. "I hope we are not interrupting anything, but our department has need of you." He couldn't tell by the voice whether the figure in front of him was male or female, which unnerved him further.

Harry couldn't think of any reason for so many Unspeakables being sent to collect him, but it couldn't be good. "I'm flattered, but I don't think I could possibly be of much help to you, Mr… I don't believe I caught your name."

The strange voice replied, "No, you did not. You may call me Sir, if you must call me anything. Now, if you will, we should get back to the ministry." He said, moving closer. Ron, Ginny, and Harry took a step back.

"Well, _sir._ " Harry spat. "Can you at least tell me what this is about before I leave?"

One of the other Unspeakables spoke next, in the same voice as the first, "You were on the scene of an attack in a muggle restaurant on the night of September 1. Your report claims that three of the attackers were stunned and a muggle member of the staff was killed by debris. You can imagine our surprise when we found that only two attackers were recovered from the scene, and none of the targets were still there to be interviewed. Our question for you, Mr. Potter, is, where are they?" the last question was asked in a tone that made Harry uneasy.

"I haven't the faintest idea where they are, _Sir_. But, if you'd like to open an investigation into the subject, I suggest you talk to the new head of the DMLE. Or better yet, the Minister herself, maybe you've heard of her, Hermoine Granger. Oh look! Here she comes now." Harry said, with a venom in his voice that he usually reserved for the interrogation room at the ministry.

Hermoine was practically running down the path toward them. "What is the meaning of this? I believe I ordered your department to look into tracking the magic used to control the Golems from the attack, not question half of the Weasley family about the incident." Harry looked at his friend and thought, not for the first time, that she could be truly frightening when she wanted to be. After she finished berating the group of Unspeakables, a strange sight to watch, she sent them back to the Ministry offices to await further instructions. They reluctantly agreed and left, but Harry suspected this wasn't the last he would hear from them.

"I'm so sorry, Harry. I didn't think they'd bother you, much less with half of the Department of Mysteries." Hermoine said, clearly still upset.

"How did you know they were here?" Harry asked, she had arrived too quickly to have not been warned.

"I'm the Minister of Magic, Harry. I have my sources." Hermoine said, before adding with a chuckle, "It doesn't hurt that Ginny and I still carry the DA coins, she used it to call me over. Nevermind any of that though, we have a bigger problem."

"What's that?" Ginny asked.

"Someone put a few of the Ministry workers under the Imperius." Hermoine said, "Thankfully we caught it early before they could get into any of the important files, but they did destroy two." Hermoine said, glancing nervously at Harry.

"Which two?" Harry asked.

What Hermoine said next made Harry's skin crawl. "Yours, and Tom Riddle's."

"What could they possibly want with Tom's file?" Harry asked. The file on Tom Riddle was fairly thin, since the Ministry had separated it into two, pre and post Voldemort.

"I don't think it's something they wanted, they didn't take it out of the building. They destroyed it." Hermoine said, "There's something they didn't want us to know in it."

"Let me guess, you have a copy." Ron said, he knew his wife would never let there be only one copy of something so important.

Hermoine shook her head, "No, I don't. But I know someone who does." She exchanged a knowing look with Harry. He had hoped to avoid that meeting if he could.

"Severus Snape." His portrait in the Headmaster's office held more information on Ton Riddle than any file ever could. Between his portrait and Dumbledore's, it was like a Voldemort encyclopedia in there. "I guess i know my first stop at my new job then."


	5. Lucky Strike

A/N: I've really enjoyed the reviews. Everything's been really positive so thanks for that. After this chapter, the next thing I'll upload will be chapter one of Albus' story, it should be up tomorrow if my proofreader gets it back to me in time. Anyway, about this chapter, it was really fun to write and it's probably one of my favorite in the entire book. So I hope you enjoy it.

 **DISCLAIMER: I still don't own Harry Potter.**

Harry awoke with a strange feeling, it was completely dark in his bedroom as usual, the only light coming from the alarm clock that faced the opposite direction from where he and Ginny slept. Any direct light could keep Ginny awake for hours. He waited for his eyes to adjust, but they didn't. It took him longer than he would've liked before he realized what was happening. The almost impenetrable darkness he had seen twice before, had returned.

He groped for his glasses on the bedside table, found them, and realized they were useless. He searched for his wand also, but found it was missing. He reached for Ginny to wake her, and his heart dropped. She was gone also. He got up and felt along the wall for his closet. He reached in and felt for the box at the bottom that held an extra wand. He pulled it from the box and cast a silent _Lumos_ , it didn't light up more than a few feet in front of him, but at least he wouldn't run into any walls.

He moved silently through his house, checking Lily's room as he walked by. She was sound asleep, with her new dog Strike sitting at the foot of the bed, fully alert. Harry could see him perfectly, which was strange considering everything else looked like he was seeing it through someone else's glasses. He moved on, down the stairs to the Kitchen, but what he saw there nearly made him scream. Ginny was sitting in her desk chair, wands in both hands. He assumed one of them had to be his missing one. What was worse, there was a figure standing directly behind her. _No,_ he thought, _not standing, floating._ He raised his wand at the figure, and cast a stunner.

The figure didn't make a move, the red light of his spell was travelling toward it and Harry was sure it would hit. He didn't, however, count on Ginny. She moved in front of the stunner and with a flick of her wand, blocked it while sending a flash of green light at Harry with his own wand. Harry ducked behind the wall, narrowly dodging the killing curse. His instincts kicked in, and he fired back, throwing stunning and disarming spells as quickly as he could while dodging unforgivables fired from his wife. He got a better look at the figure behind Ginny, what he saw made him cringe. The figure looked almost exactly like a dementor. It was different, though, in one way. It had a face, his face.

After the initial shock of seeing his face on a Dementor, Harry had an idea. Before he could execute his plan, though, he heard small footsteps on the stairs. _Lily,_ Harry thought, _all the noise must have woken her up._ He cursed under his breath before jumping across the doorway to get to the stairs, as he flew through the air, he aimed a stunner at his wife, it met the green light of her killing curse, which slowed for a moment, before continuing, straight at his chest.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Harry watched the green light coming directly for him. He'd been in this situation before, too many times. This time, however, he knew that if it hit him he wouldn't be protected, or come back. Harry put his wand up to cast a shield, knowing it wouldn't save him, but still not able to stop himself, before a streak of white fur jumped between himself and the curse. Harry thought he must already be dead, or going crazy as he watched what happened next. The pup caught the green light as it would a tennis ball, and threw it into the wall. It then barked, and a white light, much like a patronus, came from its mouth, lighting up the entire house and pushing the figure behind Ginny back into the wall. As Harry watched, it smiled at him, and disappeared with an audible _pop._

Harry, still clutching his wand, moved toward his wife, who was passed out on the floor. He took the wands from her hands before shaking her awake. "Ginny, wake up. Gin." He shook her a little harder, and she stirred.

"Harry?" She said groggily, "What am I doing on the floor?" She attempted to sit up, but she was shaking too much and Harry picked her up and moved her to the couch. "What the hell happened here?" She asked, noticing the state of the entire first floor.

"You did," Harry laughed, "You know, I never thought I'd prefer your bat-bogey curse to anything."

"Harry, what did I do?" Ginny asked, looking more like the girl he'd seen during his second year in the Chamber of Secrets than she ever had since then.

"Nothing, Gin. It wasn't you." Just then, the fireplace, which had been extinguished during the fight, lit up green and a parade of Weasleys came through, wands drawn. One by one they realized the fight was over and moved to where Harry, Ginny, and Lily were sitting.

"What in the name of Merlin happened here?" Arthur Weasley asked, looking at the destroyed living room. Harry waited until people stopped arriving, and launched into telling the entire story. He noted the looks of disbelief when he told them the part about Lily's dog. When he finished the story, Ron was the first to speak.

"What the hell was it? The thing controlling Ginny." He asked, and Harry explained what he saw, leaving out the part that the face on it was his. He would tell Ron, Ginny, and Hermoine about that part later. After he finished Ron spoke again, "Well I guess you're lucky this little guy was there." The pup had jumped into Ron's lap and was sleeping soundly. "What's his name again?"

"Strike." Harry said, "Lily says he looks like a lightning bolt when he runs." He laughed out loud during the last part, rubbing his forehead.

"Well, in any case, we need to put more protection on this place. You might not get so lucky next time." Arthur said, pulling out his wand. "Fidelius charms need to be on our houses, all of them." In the next few hours, they put the charms on all of the houses in the Weasley and Potter families. Harry was secret keeper for Ron and Hermoine, Teddy, and the Burrow. Ron was his. Ginny was still quite shaken when her family left over an hour later, Harry had given her chocolate, which had helped, but he could tell she was on the verge of tears for most of the night.

It was only Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny left in the Potter house when Ginny finally spoke, in a quiet voice, her hands shaking. "I could've.." Her voice failed her momentarily "I could've killed you." She said, finally letting the tears she'd been holding in most of the night fall.

Harry smiled at her, pulling her into his arms. "In case you haven't noticed, Gin, I'm not an easy man to kill." She laughed between sobs, into his shoulder.

Ron and Hermoine, who had been respectfully quiet during their exchange, finally spoke up. "What were you leaving out earlier?" Hermoine asked, looking at Harry knowingly.

"You could tell?" Harry asked, surprised.

"C'mon mate, we've been around you long enough to know when you're not telling us everything. Now spill." Ron said.

"Alright then, the dementor with a face that I saw, its face was mine." Harry said. Ron and Hermoine gasped at the revelation.

"What does that mean?" Hermoine asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me, I've never seen anything like it before." Harry replied. "You haven't read about that ever happening before, have you?"

"I think one thing is certain, what you saw was not a dementor." Hermoine said, "Could it have been a mixed breed?" The thought of a dementor mating with anything made Harry's stomach turn.

"Actually, I don't want to think about it tonight," Harry said, "We should just go to bed and think on it more after I talk to the headmaster's portraits tomorrow."

"Agreed," Hermoine said, reaching into her pockets, "take these coins, they're like our old DA ones, just press the top and it will call us to you." She handed each of them a blank silver coin. Harry turned his over and noticed a small lighting strike on the side.

Harry watched his two friends leave through the fireplace and then turned to his wife, he had fallen asleep on the couch already. He picked her up gently and carried her up the stairs, Lily was standing in her doorway, clutching an extendable ear. Harry put his finger to his mouth, telling her silently to hold her questions. He walked to his room and placed Ginny on the bed, covering her with a quilt that Molly made for them they year before, before walking back to Lily's room and sitting on the foot of her bed.

"Eavesdropping? I thought I taught you better than that," Harry said jokingly. "You must have so many questions."

"Why did that thing in the kitchen smile at you?" Lily asked, "Wasn't you fighting it?"

"And losing," Harry said, "I've learned that a lot of the most evil witches and wizards smile at the oddest times, it's like they enjoy causing pain, even when there's no reason for it." Harry paused for a moment before deciding to tell her the story of how Bellatrix died. He finished the story by saying, "So you see, Bellatrix was too busy enjoying the pain she was causing Molly by threatening her children, to realize that Molly was beating her. That's why we'll always win, we fight because it's right, not because we enjoy it. We fight because we must, not because we want to. And most of all, we fight to protect each other, not to cause anyone else pain.

"So we'll win?" Lily asked.

Harry nodded, "In the end, I have no doubt that we will. Somehow." He looked at his daughter, and noticed she had the same determined look in her eyes that he'd seen in Claire and Ginny just days before. _When did that happen_ , he asked himself, seeing that sort of reaction from a child her age was rare, and it made him more proud than he could say. "Goodnight, Lily."

"'Night Dad," She said, reaching across and turning off her lamp.

Harry went to his room to find Ginny wide awake, "How did she take it?" She asked, concerned.

"Almost exactly like you would," Harry said, "She looked more pissed off than scared." He noticed that Ginny still looked worried and he added "I wouldn't worry, that dog of hers is pretty protective." She laughed silently before laying back down.

"Harry," she said, looking into his eyes. "Can you teach me how Occlumency?" Harry was already planning to do this, as it seemed that his wife was once again the target of a dark wizard's mind tricks.

"It won't be easy, I hated Snape's lessons." Harry said, remembering the hours spent in the dungeons with Severus forcing himself into his thoughts and memories.

"I know, but at least you already know everything about me, so it won't be so bad if you see my memories." Ginny said, smiling sleepily.

"We'll start this weekend," Harry said, "Just be careful until then, okay?" She nodded and he leaned over and kissed her goodnight before burying his face in his pillow and falling slowly to sleep. Tomorrow he would start at Hogwarts, and everything was going to change.

Somewhere outside the boundaries of his house, a small muggle boy stood, wondering what happened to the house that used to be in the abandoned lot in front of him.

"Wicked, isn't it. It just disappears when they do that." A cold voice said from behind him, startling him out of his trance.

"Who are you?" the boy asked, the voice had come from the shadow of a house behind him and he wasn't about to walk toward it.

"Oh, that doesn't matter." The voice said, "What I'm worried about is who you are."

"Stephen, my name is Stephen."

"Well hello, Stephen, it's nice to meet you. I need you to deliver a message to the people that live in the house that you just saw disappear." The voice said.

"How, I don't know who lived there." Stephen said.

"Oh, that doesn't matter," the voice said, stepping out of the shadows, Stephen didn't even have time to scream before a green light hit him squarely in the chest. "Your move, potter."


	6. Headmasters and Heads of Houses

**A/N:** Well, I know it's been a few days, but I needed to make a couple changes to this chapter, because of some inconsistencies I found later on in the story. It should be more regular now. Also, Chapters 1 and 2 of Albus Potter and the Approaching Darkness are up, they're around half the length of the chapters in this story, and I think they will continue to be so I can update it as often as possible. I also started working on a One-Shot. I'm not sure what the name of the story is going to be yet, but it'll focus on a prank war that Teddy and Victoire had with James and Fred II in the year prior to this story.

 **Disclaimer:** I **STILL DON'T** own Harry Potter, what a bummer.

Harry walked through the gates of Hogwarts, more nervous than he'd been since he had come here for his first year. This time he was also arriving alongside a pack of excited children. He stopped by the memorial on his way into the gate, placing a small bouquet of flowers into a stone vase that stood in the front. One of those flowers, it turned out, was a fake wand, charmed to look like a rose when someone tried to use it. He left this one in honor of Fred, it was a kind of tradition for him to leave one of them each time he entered the gates. _I'll have to use the floo from now on._ Harry thought, realizing that if he left one each day it would cost him a small fortune.

He led the children up the stairs into the castle, and to the gargoyle that guarded the Headmistress' office. "Well this is awkward, I don't know the password." Harry said, looking fairly confused. Just then, an unlikely savior appeared in the form of Draco Malfoy.

"Hello, Potter." His former nemesis said, in the same drawling voice Harry had learned to hate during his school years. Harry had gotten over his hatred of Malfoy some time ago, though, and smiled at him.

"Malfoy," Harry said, nodding. "I don't suppose you know the password. I've got some late arrivals that need sorting." He motioned to the children behind him.

"So, these are our new American visitors." Malfoy said, shifting his attention to the children. "I would introduce myself now, but you lot look like you have somewhere to be. The password is _Gillyweed."_ He said the final word facing toward the Gargoyle, which sprung to life and moved aside, revealing the hidden staircase to the Headmistress' office.

"Thanks," Harry said, leading the children up the stairs into an office he had spent quite some time in during his years in Hogwarts. The differences between the current headmistress and Albus Dumbledore were evident in how the office was organized. Where Albus' office had been, well, slightly cluttered. The way it was set up now, Harry could clearly see that everything had its place.

"Professor Potter, you're early." Came a voice that was oddly soothing and stern at the same time. Harry turned toward the sound and got his first glimpse of Headmistress Rebecca Undercliffe. She was a shorter woman, that carried herself as though she was a giant. Harry noticed that a large puma stalked behind her as she glided down the stairs from her study. "These must be our new students, I am Professor Undercliffe, the headmistress. We'll have to get you sorted, I will return shortly with the sorting hat. Harry, I understand you require the services of Albus and Severus. They are expecting you," She motioned for Harry to follow her into the study.

As they entered the study, a chorus of voices greeted them. It seemed that all of the portraits in the room were talking at once. Over the nearly deafening sound of the portraits, Headmistress Undercliffe shouted. "That's enough!" The voices quieted and Rebecca's voice was calm once again. "Professor Potter, as you all know, requires assistance from Albus and Severus. Anything that any of you hear here today, is to be kept as a secret, even from me. Until such a time as he decides to disclose the information." The former heads of the school all murmured their assent, and the headmistress retreated back down the stairs, holding the sorting hat and closing the door behind her.

Harry looked around the study, noticing the 'sleeping' form of Headmaster Black. He turned to where he knew the latest headmasters' portraits were hanging. Albus looked more relaxed than he ever had when Harry was in school, and Severus was scowling, as always. "Young mister Potter." Snape said, even though Harry knew that Snape didn't hate him, his voice still made Harry's skin crawl. "I was told that you had need of me, what is it then?"

Harry waited a moment, hoping that Albus would take over the conversation before he had to tell his story. After it became obvious that Albus wasn't going to speak until Harry told them his story, Harry launched into his story, starting with the attack at the restaurant and ending with the thing in his home that had caused Ginny to attack him. After he finished his story, Dumbledore and Snape both looked much more concerned than interested.

Dumbledore pondered the new information for a moment, before asking "Where, if I might ask, did you come upon the dog?" Harry told him. "I believe, Harry, that you may have come to the wrong place entirely. Luna, as usual, may know more than she appears to."

Harry didn't disagree, Luna always did seem to know more than anyone gave her credit for. She had been the only one to suggest a solution to the question of the final horcrux just before the battle of Hogwarts. Harry determined that he would be making another trip to Diagon Alley soon. For the present, though, he still needed answers from the two portraits before him. "Professors, do you have any idea about why the form in my house would've taken my face?"

"Possibly just to throw you off of your game, Potter?" Snape said, "It almost worked too. If your daughter's pet hadn't jumped between you and that curse, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. The important information from your story is that it used my voice when speaking to you."

"How is that any more important than the face?" Harry said, moderately annoyed at the lack of interest from his former headmasters.

"I believe what Severus is trying to say, is that because it used his voice we can now infer that whoever is doing all these things doesn't have all of the information. They still think that you hate him, so they used that voice to bring those emotions to the surface." Albus spoke in a voice reminiscent of the first time he had told Harry about the Horcruxes. "I believe that, whatever this creature is, it was created by the same type of magic that spawned the dementors. It would explain why the pup, Strike I think you called it, used something that looked similar to a patronus to expel it from your home. It would also explain why it used your face, and Severus' voice, both of those were meant to bring out negative emotions in you. Which, if I'm correct, is what it was feeding on."

"But then why did it use Ginny?" Harry asked, he couldn't even begin to contemplate everything that Albus Dumbledore was telling him, but he had to understand how Ginny fit into the entire situation, so that he could keep her safe.

"Isn't it obvious?" Albus said, a sad look on his face. "Because being out of control is Ginevra's largest fear. I assume that stems from her incident in the chamber during her first year at Hogwarts. One of my more spectacular failures, to be sure. A student was opening the chamber and I didn't even think to check the Gryffindors, the heir of Slytherin in Gryffindor was just too ironic. Of course, we know now that the heir was never physically at the school that year, but I digress. How has she been since the attack?" Dumbledore asked, his usual calm expression returning.

"As well as can be expected, she's asked me to teach her how to use Occlumency." Harry said, causing Snape to laugh maniacally.

"You? Teach? Occlumency? Young Ginevra will struggle to keep a first year out of her mind with your instruction, I suggest you send her here, or at least use my second portrait to help you with the instruction." Snape said, still laughing rather smugly. He motioned to a second frame with the same black backdrop as his, but with no current resident. "I can move freely between these two frames. If you put me in whichever room you plan to do the _lessons_ in, I will be able to help you instruct her. I assume you have become a capable Legilimens. You did have more of a proficiency for that than occlumency if I recall correctly."

After several more minutes discussing Ginny's instruction, Harry agreed to bring the other frame for Snape to his office, where he and Ginny had agreed to do the lessons. _She's going to love this_ , Harry thought, imagining the shocked look on his wife's face when she heard Snape during their first lesson made him chuckle, but the impending hex that was sure to follow that look concerned him.

He walked out of the study, after promising to keep the former headmasters informed of any new developments. He was greeted at the bottom of the stairs by five excited children. He found out shortly that the twins, Ian and Ryan, were placed in Gryffindor along with Susan. Their brother Michael was placed in Hufflepuff, alongside Payton, who was also going to be a second year. Jared, who Harry hadn't really seen as much as the others, possibly because he was shorter than Payton despite being two years older, was placed in Ravenclaw. It made sense to Harry that they were so separated, being stuck together on the run may have made them close, but they were still different people and were raised in different families.

"So, I'll go ahead and show you to your common rooms, we'll start with the Hufflepuffs. Yours is closest." Harry said, leading the way. He led them down to the ground floor of the castle, explaining anything he could along the way. They got their first look at Peeves the Poltergeist just before they reached the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. He tried to drop a large pot of scalding hot water on them, but Harry had seen it coming and conjured a shield that shot the water back toward him. "All right, Peeves?" He asked, listening to the poltergeist curse and fly in circles above their heads, spitting water in all directions. They continued to the door into the Hufflepuff common room. "Well, go on, knock." Harry said, gesturing towards the iron knocker on the door.

Payton and Michael both moved toward the door, but as soon as their hands touched the iron, they disappeared. Harry was impressed, the old Hufflepuff common room was almost entirely unguarded. Just a simple lock to keep out the other houses. They continued to the Ravenclaw tower, where Harry offered to help Jared with the riddle, but his offer was declined. "I can figure it out," he said, determined.

Harry led his final three charges to the Gryffindor common room, where the same portrait of the fat lady hung covering the passage. Upon seeing Harry, the woman in the portrait beamed, "Harry Potter? How good it is to see you again. Come to visit young Albus, or to scold James?"

"Neither, ma'am, just came to drop off three newbies." Harry said, returning the smile. "We don't have the password, though. Do you think you could let them in just this once?"

She looked at Harry for quite a while before saying, "I can't, security at the school has been top priority since, well, you know. You." Harry understood, and was about to call for James with a patronus when Neville appeared around the corner, carrying a potted plant that looked strangely like a person.

"All right, Harry?" He said, nearly dropping the plant as he almost ran over Susan, who had been blocked from his sight by the plant in his hand. Before Harry could respond, Ian shot a question toward Neville.

"What's that?" He said, Harry couldn't blame him, the plant had far too many human characteristics.

"Well, that's the thing, I have no clue." Neville said, "just found it in the greenhouses this morning. It doesn't move, whatever it is." He said, poking it with his wand to prove the point. "I'm bringing it to my office to decide whether to send it to an expert, or try to figure it out myself. What're you four doing outside of the common room? Not just visiting the paintings I'm sure." He said pointing to the fat lady, who was currently attempting to juggle fruit, much to the delight of Susan.

"We don't have the password, these three are your new Gryffindors." Harry responded. Neville lit up.

"Well why didn't you say so?" He nearly shouted. "I'm professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor house. The password's _Prince of Persia_ " He said, before noticing the confused looks on all of their faces and adding, "It's a muggle video game. I got a little bored over the holidays."

Even as he was explaining it, the picture frame swung open, revealing a sight that brought back a flood of memories for Harry. The common room was almost exactly the same as it had been during his Hogwarts years. He ushered the children in, and followed them through the passage. He noted that getting through the hole was much easier when he was younger. He looked around the room and after a moment, found what he was looking for. Albus and Rose were sitting on one of the small couches, each with a book in their lap, waving their wands at it. Harry was just about to walk over to them, when he heard the voice of his oldest son groan, "Oh no, they must have sent an owl home already."

Harry turned to see James' head on the table, with Fred laughing in the chair beside him. _This could be fun_ , Harry thought, putting on his best angry expression. "Yes, and your mum sent me here to tell you off! What were you thinking? No, don't answer that, I already know the answer! You weren't thinking! How could you, you're lucky we let you stay another minute at this school after what you did!" He made it nearly to the last word before the façade broke and he started laughing, James looked utterly confused at the change of expressions. "No, the school hasn't contacted us about you yet, and I assume they won't need to now that I'm working here." The revelation brought a gasp from all of the Weasley children and his two sons.

They all spoke at once, so before they could calm down, Harry raised his arm commanding attention. "I won't get in the way of any of your mischief, Merlin knows I got into plenty myself. Just make sure nobody gets hurt, or you'll have to deal with your grandmother."

Victoire spoke next, "Are you teaching?" She asked, Harry nodded.

"I'll be taking over fifth, sixth, and seventh years' Defense against the Dark Arts classes. So be ready for a bit more work." Harry laughed, "These are your new housemates. Ian and Ryan will be joining the sixth years, and Susan here will be joining as a fourth year. They're from the United States and they've been out of school for most of the last year, so help them catch up on how things go around here as best you can." Harry said, to all the children in his extended family. "Now, then, I should probably go set up my office and classroom before Neville gets done with his new mystery and comes looking for a drinking buddy for the night."

Harry left the room, nearly bumping his head on the edge of the portrait hole. He probably wouldn't be making many more trips into the common room if he could help it. Getting a concussion wasn't high on his list of things to do this year. As he walked into the classroom he had been assigned, he noticed two things. One, that someone had already set most of the equipment for him, and two, Ginny's patronus was galloping toward him from the far end. He was startled for a moment, but regained himself when Ginny's voice spoke from the horse's mouth. "Get Home, Something's Happened." The horse shimmered and disappeared, its message delivered.


	7. First Class

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the wait, I was gone for Spring Break and uploading this just never really crossed my mind. I should have a good bit more coming in the next few days from this story and the Albus POV. I'm just waiting for my proofreader to finish with the chapters I sent him.

 **Disclaimer:** I do **NOT** own Harry Potter, yet.

Harry looked at the scene in his living room, taken aback by the sheer number of people there. The entire Weasley clan, Luna, and Kingsley were there. Everyone stopped moving when he stepped out of the fireplace. "Took you long enough, mate." Ron said, "It's a mad house here."

"I can see that," Harry said, "What is this?"

Everyone seemed to get very uncomfortable at this question, Ginny finally answered him. "We may have a bigger problem than we thought." She said, pausing to look for someone else to finish. When it was apparent that no one else was going to take over the story, she continued. "Last Night, when we had our little run in with that, um, thing. I may have done more than just attack you."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, intrigued. Ginny led him into the kitchen, where he saw exactly what was making everyone so uncomfortable. A small boy, no more than six or seven years old, was laid across their table. Harry recognized that he was dead instantly, but it took him more than a few moments to realize what it all meant. Ginny had killed him. "No.." Harry started. "are we sure that you did this?"

"Well you know I can't remember any of it while I wasn't in control, and I did cast more than one killing curse at you. We can't be sure, but it seems likely." Ginny said, forcing herself to stay calm.

"Wouldn't you know if you, you know, wouldn't it damage your soul like it did Tom's?" Harry asked, still in shock at the whole situation.

"This is new territory for us, Harry," Hermoine chimed in, "It could be that, even though her body cast the spell, she didn't have control so it may not have damaged her soul like average, every day murder would." Ginny, having apparently avoided using or hearing the word 'murder' for the length of the conversation, broke into tears at this. Fleur and Molly moved more quickly than Harry and corralled her into the living room. Harry, having been beaten to the punch, turned to Ron and Hermoine.

"What's going to happen?" he asked, primarily speaking to Hermoine.

She smiled sadly at him, "Being friends with the Minister of Magic does have its perks, since I know what happened last night, I can keep an investigation from being opened, at least until we catch whoever really did this."

"Why would he kill a kid, I mean I don't even recognize this one. What was the purpose?" Harry asked. Usually when he encountered a murder as an auror, it at least had an obvious purpose. This just seemed random, apart from the proximity to his house. Before his friends could even attempt to answer his question, he asked another. "Can we tell when, exactly, the spell that hit him was cast?"

"Not without bringing him in to the Department of Mysteries," Hermoine said, "and with how suspicious they were about the Americans and you, I wouldn't think you'd want to go to the Unspeakables." She was right, of course, the Department of Mysteries was the last place Harry wanted to take a situation like this. Putting Ginny in a position to have the Unspeakables questioning her was simply not an option. Having Snape in her Occlumency lessons was going to be bad enough.

"No," Harry and Ron said simultaneously, they looked at each other for a moment and Harry continued, "That isn't an option. We'll have to figure this out on our own."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, mate." Ron said, smiling sadly. "Should we tell our yank friends about all of this?"

"I don't think so, at least not yet." Harry said, "I don't want to involve them any more than they already are. They've been through enough already."

A few hours passed before the Weasleys started leaving, in pairs. Finally, at nearly one in the morning, Ginny and Harry sat alone in their living room. "Why does everything happen to us?" Ginny asked quietly.

"I don't know, Gin. But you have to admit, we'd be really boring otherwise." Harry responded. A few minutes later, Ginny was asleep, leaving Harry alone with his thoughts. Hermoine and Percy had taken the body to a place far enough away that it was unlikely anyone would find it, they preserved it magically, in order to give the family some sense of closure when the time came. At least he would get a proper burial. He determined that the child must have been killed as retaliation for Harry and Ginny surviving the attack. That was his final thought, before he fell into a restless sleep.

Harry walked into his classroom the next morning still half asleep, and began preparing for his first class. He had decided to start with something he knew that he could teach his students, because he had taught the subject before. He looked at the clock he had charmed to disappear when the lesson began, he couldn't have the students looking at the clock during his lectures. It was five minutes until his first class, seventh year Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. He walked into his office to wait for class to start.

After a few minutes, he heard the first sounds of students walking into the classroom. He waited for the sound of chairs scraping the ground to stop for a few minutes before he cast a silent Patronus charm, and sent it into the class ahead of him with a message.

 _The Patronus charm is a difficult, but very effective charm. Primarily used to ward off dark creatures, a powerful patronus can take a corporeal form and even deliver short messages. Today, you will attempt…_

Harry walked into the back of the class unnoticed and watched the final part of his message, before finishing the sentence for his stag patronus as it dissipated. "…to cast a Patronus charm, it can take some time to get it right, but I believe a class of seventh years should have no problem getting it right by the end of class. How many of you are familiar with how the charm works?" Every hand in the room shot up, Harry knew that the theory of casting the charm was talked about in the fourth year classes. "Can any of you cast the charm?"

Most of the hands went down, only a few remained raised. Harry pointed out a Slytherin girl in the back of the class, he hadn't had the chance to learn all of their names yet, but he thought it started with an L. She stood, and nearly shouted _EXPECTO PATRONUM._ A small cone of white light appeared from the tip of her wand, and spun twice before disappearing.

"Very good, not many students at this school could cast a patronus that large with no instruction. Ten points to Slytherin." He next poined to the Hufflepuff, who he knew was a muggle born whose last name was Murray. "Let's see what you can do, then."

Murray, who was a petite girl with short, jet black hair and rimless glasses, pointed her wand and, without muttering a single word, cast a fully formed corporeal patronus, a lioness that prowled around the perimeter of the classroom before deciding that everything was safe and dissipating with a roar. "Well done, well done!" said Harry, truly surprised. He had expected a few of them to be able to cast a weak patronus, but not a fully formed one on the first day. "50 points to Hufflepuff, and you can be excused from tonight's homework."

"Now, for the rest of you, as you know, the incantation is _expecto patronum,_ the hardest part of casting the patronus charm is finding the memory that it can draw its power from. Try to remember your happiest moment, and hold on to that when casting the charm. I also have something special in mind for those of you who are able to cast anything more than workable patronus by the end of class today."

After nearly an hour of practice, only seven of the students had managed to cast anything at all. Three of them had actually cast corporeal ones, though, so Harry thought it was a successful class. He was admiring the lioness that was prowling around his classroom once again, when the clock reappeared on the wall, signaling the end of class. He gave the students who had cast a patronus instructions to come back to his classroom the next day after lunch, which he knew to be the free period for the NEWT students.

He repeated this process with each of his classes, and at the end of the day he had seen a total of thirty-five patronus charms, leaving him thirty-five students for his first project as a Hogwarts teacher, he was going to revive the dueling club.

The next day after lunch, Harry stood in front of the students that had managed the task the day before. "Good afternoon, and welcome to the first meeting of the new dueling club. A teacher of mine, during my second year in school here, started this club. It stands to this day as the only thing I ever agreed with him on. You should all be able to defend yourselves when you leave this school, and I'm not sure lectures and homework are going to prepare you for what's out there." Victoire raised her hand, "Yes, Victoire?"

"Professor," she smirked, "If we all need to defend ourselves, why only invite certain students?"

Harry had expected this, "Each of you was able to cast a patronus, in some shape or form. Since it takes considerable skill to do that at your ages and with so little instruction, I brought you into this club before opening it to the rest of the students so that when I bring the rest in, you all can help me teach and demonstrate."

Harry had the group pair up with someone from a different house, hoping to get all of the students acquainted with each other. They practiced stunning, disarming, and the patronus charms for the duration of the meeting, and by the end of the session almost the entire group could cast a shield patronus and nearly half of them were casting corporeal ones. He let them go, telling them to be at the same place next week.

Later that day, Harry was reading in his office when he heard a knock on the door. He looked up and to his surprise, Draco Malfoy stood before him. "Good evening, Potter." He said, drawling.

"All right, Malfoy?" Harry asked, a blank stare on his face. Why was Malfoy visiting him?

"I heard you started a dueling club," Malfoy said with a smile, "I hope it wasn't as eventful as our first duel second year."

"Not at all, no snakes this time." Harry said, laughing. Was Malfoy trying to make small talk? "You can't be here to relive old times though, what do you need?"

"I want to help, with the dueling club." Malfoy said, "I have dueling experience, even if most of it was against you." Harry was taken aback, Malfoy wanted to _help?_ That was new, Harry was just about to decline, when he remembered that he had defended Malfoy's position at the school to his wife.

"Sure, I could use the help," Harry replied, flashing a half-forced smile at his old nemesis. "I assume you know when and where?"

"I'll be there," Malfoy said, turning to walk out of the door before looking back over his shoulder with a mischievous grin, "maybe we can give them a demonstration. That is, if you're not scared, Potter." He shut the door behind him before he could hear Harry's reply.

"You wish."


	8. Mirror Mirror

**A/N:** This chapter was a really fun one to write for me. Also, we made it over 200 visitors, which I thought was really neat, may not be a big accomplishment, but I like it. Keep the Reviews coming too, I really like waking up to the emails about the story.

 **Disclaimer:** _I don't own Harry Potter. But I do own a new dog, I named him Strike. xD_

Harry looked out of his office window at the Hogwarts Gate, where Ginny was due to arrive at any moment. He had been teaching for nearly three weeks, yet this lesson was the one he was the most nervous about. Ginny still didn't know about the inclusion of Snape in their lessons, and Harry knew her reaction wouldn't be all that calm.

Just as he was thinking about this, Snape stepped into the frame behind him. "She's late, Potter," he said. "Maybe finding out I was going to be assisting you scared her away." Harry didn't respond, instead he walked out into the hall, deciding to meet her at the gate instead. He only got to the doors of the castle before he saw her, walking as quickly as possible across the grounds. She nearly ran him over on the stairs before she looked up long enough to notice him.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, breathing loudly. "Lily really didn't want to go to Ron and Hermoine's today." Harry pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her on the cheek. "Really? A peck on the cheek after almost a month of you living in the castle?" She said, purposefully sounding annoyed.

"Well, I can't really go snogging you senseless here in front of the great hall, think of the children." Harry said, using his best professor voice.

"Speaking of the children, are they still in the great hall?" Ginny asked, laughing.

"I would assume Albus is, James and Fred tend to disappear after classes are over. My best guess is they go get food from the kitchens and go plan their next prank in the shrieking shack." Harry said, chuckling at his wife's gasp. They walked, hand in hand, toward the stairway that let to Harry's office. "I only say that, because I caught them throwing rocks at the tree trunk, trying to hit the spot that calms it down."

"But, how did they know how to stop it?" Ginny asked, though Harry thought she already knew the answer. He had told them about the way into the shack after they had gotten caught using Myrtle's bathroom to brew their own prank snacks. Harry had the sneaking suspicion that they had succeeded, considering the odd number of students that, at the beginning of this year, had spent the better part of a few days coughing up feathers.

"No idea, love." Harry said, before stopping outside of his office door. "Before we go inside, there's something you should be prepared for." Ginny looked confused, but urged him to continue. "As you know, I wasn't very good at Occlumency for a long time. I was always better as a Legimens than defending myself. So, I enlisted some help with teaching you."

"Oh, okay," Ginny started "who is it, then?"

"That's the thing, you know how all the headmasters have two portraits that they can move between?" Harry asked, Ginny nodded.

"Don't tell me, you got Dumbledore's extra frame?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, that one was placed at his brother's house." Harry said, "guess again."

"Minerva?"

"Nope, her portrait won't be in the office until she passes away, so probably never. She's looked exactly the same since we met her." Harry said, "One more try."

Ginny thought for a moment, then her facial expression became much darker. "No," She started, looking at Harry with disbelief, "No you didn't." She reached past Harry and opened the door.

"I see your punctuality has not improved since your time in my class, Mrs. Weasley," Snape's voice carried out into the hallway. "Apologies, I suppose it is Mrs. Potter now. While I appreciate the shocked expression on your face, we do have a schedule to keep, we can't have you two roaming the corridors after dark."

"Oh, hell no! I am not doing this in front of _HIM_ " Ginny said, turning to walk away.

"Oh dear, I thought Gryffindors weren't afraid of anything. I suppose we should inform the sorting hat that his judgement was a bit flawed with this one." Snape said. Harry knew what he was doing, and was mildly impressed. There was no way his wife was leaving now.

Ginny turned around slowly, her hatred evident on her face. Harry hoped it was directed mainly at Snape and not him. "Let's just get this over with," she said, taking a seat on the large couch Harry had placed in his office specifically for these lessons. If she was going to have him digging around in her mind and Snape heckling her, she would at least be physically comfortable.

"All right, then. You're familiar with how this works, just focus on one memory, and I'll try to break past it into the rest of your mind." Harry said, "Ready?" Ginny nodded and Harry attacked her mind, silently. The memory she chose to focus on was a happy one, it was her and Harry practicing quidditch during the offseason after her first year starting for the Harpies. They were both chasing the snitch, Harry coaxing his firebolt to move faster as he trailed farther behind his wife. She was using a brand-new Nimbus professional series broom, which seemed entirely unfair to Harry.

Harry was almost so wrapped up in the first memory that he forgot what he was doing for a moment. He regained his train of thought and pressed through the wall into her mind with very little difficulty. The memory he saw next made his skin crawl.

Ginny was walking through the hallway in their house, holding her wand out in front of her, using it for light. Harry recognized instantly that this memory was from the night she was attacked. He watched as she walked down the stairs, the darkness closing in around the light of her wand. He wanted to shout a warning, tell her to turn around, but he knew it was pointless. As she turned into the kitchen, she screamed, Harry looked around and saw why. The attacker, that had worn Harry's face later in the night, looked exactly like Ginny at this point. Harry pulled out of her mind and looked into his wife's eyes, tears had welled in them. Snape's portrait looked curious, but stayed silent and stepped backward and out of sight.

"I didn't remember, why didn't I remember?" She was saying quietly, shaking her head. Harry started to move toward her, when he noticed Snape moving back into his frame, accompanied by Dumbledore.

"I am truly sorry for the interruption, but Professor Snape informed me that young Ginevra seemed to remember something about the attack when you attacked her mind." Dumbledore said, looking intently at Harry and Ginny.

A long moment passed before Harry spoke, "I saw the attacker in her memory, but instead of my face, I saw Ginny's."

"That is interesting, perhaps we were thinking of this situation the wrong way entirely. Harry, if you would meet me in the headmistress' study after your lesson concludes, I think I may be able to explain how your attacker took your appearance." Dumbledore said.

"Why can't you just tell me now?" Harry asked, he wasn't really one for keeping secrets. Especially from Ginny.

"I assure you, I'm not expecting you to hide anything from Mrs. Potter, but it would be truly disappointing to wake her when she's sleeping so soundly. Don't you think?" His former headmaster said, eyes twinkling once again. Harry turned to see his wife, as Dumbledore said, fast asleep. He remembered how tired he had been after his first lesson with Snape, and Harry had stayed in Ginny's mind far longer than Snape had ever stayed in his. He summoned a blanket from the cabinet across the office, and pulled it over her, before following Dumbledore's request and walking toward the stairway to the headmistress' office. He met her just past the gargoyle that guarded the entrance.

"Can you explain to me why professor Dumbledore just ran me out of my own office?" she asked, sounding eerily like his own transfiguration professor.

Harry shook his head, "Sorry, not just yet. I'll try to make this as quick as possible though, promise." He ran up the stairway and into the headmaster's study.

"Harry! That was fast, I assume you didn't have to guess at the password this time?" Dumbledore said, not waiting for an answer before he continued, "After learning that the form you saw was different than what your wife was attacked by, I had an idea. I assume you remember a certain mirror from your first year at Hogwarts?" Harry nodded as Dumbledore continued. "I think your attacker was using a spell similar to the one on the mirror, so that each person that looked into it would see only themselves. It really is an ingenious way to keep one's identity a secret."

"It sounds almost as if you admire our newest dark wizard," Phineas Black said, before adding "I must say, this is the first time I've thought of that damned mirror since my school years."

"Wait, you know about the mirror?" Harry said, before catching himself. Of course, Black new about the mirror, he was a headmaster of Hogwarts after all. "Nevermind, Professor, how do we find the identity of the attacker if it just takes a new face whenever someone else looks?"

"Isn't it obvious, boy?" Black said before Dumbledore could answer, "you confuse it."

"What?" Harry said.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, "As professor Black said, if too many people are looking at the Mirror of the Erised, it turns into a regular mirror until someone looks into it alone. If I am correct, and I usually am, if more than one person looks at your assailant at once, it should show its true form."

"Should?" Harry said, "And if it doesn't?" He couldn't base his entire strategy on a guess, no matter how brilliant the mind that made it.

"I will continue to research, and if we find any new information you will be the first to know. I have enlisted the help of nearly all of the headmasters in this study. Apart from the earliest ones, they hardly ever wake up these days. For now, however, I suggest you go back to staying at your home, so you and Ginny can both be together if our new darkness attacks again." Harry nodded, and thanked his former headmasters before walking back down the stairs. He found the headmistress where he had left her.

"It's all yours now, I'm sorry for the inconvenience." Harry said apologetically.

"It's no trouble at all, your situation intrigues me, why all the secrecy." Professor Undercliffe asked.

"I don't like to involve more people than I have to, too much risk." Harry said, still distracted by the conversation he had just been a part of. Rebecca clearly noticed this, because she made her way past him.

"Well, if you ever need to talk, I'm just a password away. It's still _Gillyweed_ by the way." She said as she disappeared up the stairs.


	9. Taking Flight

**A/N:** I was really conflicted about whether or not to upload another chapter today, especially since I'm starting to work on the next book in the series. I'm almost to the end of writing in the story from Albus' point of view, I'll be sending the last chapters to my proofreader tonight.

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Harry Potter.

Moving back home and commuting between Hogwarts and Godric's Hollow was much better for Harry than living in the castle. He usually only stayed until his last class was finished, then he couldn't get home fast enough. He had also taken to doing Ginny's occlumency lessons in their home, he even moved Snape's portrait into James' room, where they were doing most of the lessons.

Today, however, Ginny would be meeting him after his final class of the afternoon. James was trying out of the house team, and they wouldn't miss it. He had replaced James' broom with the new one that morning, so he assumed that James had already found it. He and Fred had skipped all of their classes that morning according to the map, and Harry had the sneaking suspicion that they were using the time to prepare for the tryouts.

He was pondering this during the dueling club meeting, while the students practiced dodging spells instead of using shields. His attention was drawn back to the meeting by a stunner that barely missed his head. He heard Malfoy laughing "Best pay attention, Potter. Mr. Hunter apparently thinks you are his partner." Melvin Hunter was one of the few 5th year students that Harry had taken into the dueling club. His spellwork, if not his aim, was incredible for his age.

"I'm sure Mr. Hunter is just looking to test himself against tougher competition." Harry said, jovially, he had actually come to quite enjoy having Draco in the club. He had even brought Neville into the club on Malfoy's suggestion. The number of students who could produce the necessary patronus to get into the exclusive club had risen considerably when people found out that the only way in was to send a message by patronus to Harry. The first one had actually come when he was napping in his office between classes, and had made him incredibly grumpy for the next class. It seemed the entire seventh year was now in the club and more than half of the sixth. The fifth year had started with only three students able to join, but by the third meeting that number had risen to five times that amount.

Harry called a halt to all the pairs practicing, holding his wand to his throat as he spoke, amplifying the words. "I have an announcement to make," he started, "but first, I need to congratulate each of you on a job well done. In the three meetings, we've had, we've seen our number rise exponentially and all of you are better duelists than you were when we started. I have spoken to the Minister, and she thinks that the board of governors needs a way to gauge your progress." At this, whispers broke out amongst the students. "Therefore, we will be hosting a dueling competition to show your progress to them. Each house will select two students from fifth, sixth, and seventh years, to compete in the tournament. These students will duel in a single elimination, tournament style competition against the other selections from their house. The winner of each house's tournament will then duel that house's head of house." The whispers all stopped at this and they each looked at each other, some looked afraid, but Harry noticed that the Gryffindors all looked more excited than nervous.

He continued, "If any of you manage to defeat your head of house, I have arranged for you to compete in a professional dueling competition during the Summer Holidays." Harry paused, and motioned to a large piece of parchment hanging on the wall. "Anyone who wishes to participate, may sign this piece of parchment to be placed in consideration." He walked out the door as the entire dueling club rushed to get their names on the list.

"Harry, you know they're never going to be able to agree on who gets to compete." Neville said, catching up to him. Harry had already thought of this.

"They will, when they realize that they can't write their own name on the parchment." Harry had charmed the list to only accept a name that wasn't written by its owner. Also, the names weren't visible to anyone except the author, so their votes would be secret. It was, in Harry's opinion, one of his best pieces of charm work.

Harry made his way down to the quidditch pitch, accompanied by Neville. Upon their arrival, Harry realized he had been right about James and Fred's absence. He watched as James flew low over the field straight toward the base of the towering stands. Harry was just about to shout a warning, thinking that James didn't see the approaching stand, but just before his son went crashing into it, he pulled up hard on his broom and flew straight up, his toes grazing the wooden stand. Harry laughed and clapped at his son's display of skill.

James looked down in absolute horror at his father, knowing he was probably about to lose his new broomstick on the day he got it. He flew down and landed in front of his dad and Neville. "Hiya, Dad, Nev…I mean Professor Longbottom." James said, putting on his best _I'm supposed to be here_ face. "Did you come to watch the tryouts?"

"Actually, we came to warn you." Harry started, barely keeping down his laughter, "Your mother is due to arrive any second, and if she sees that you've skipped all of your classes she may make you tryout on a Cleansweep One." Harry laughed at the dumbfounded look on his son's face.

James, after a moment, regained himself. "I'd still make seeker on a relic like that." He bragged, but he mounted his broom and flew away toward the castle.

"That was cruel," Harry heard his wife's voice come from beneath the stands, "Now he'll think he got away with it."

"How long have you been watching him fly?" Harry asked as his wife appeared out of thin air in front of them. "And where did you find my cloak?"

"Oh, James tried to pack it and the map in his trunk before he left for school. I guess I forgot to give it back to you." Ginny said innocently. "Hiya, Neville."

"Hi Gin, Neville said, been a while." Neville responded.

"Well, you never come to the burrow when we invite you!" Ginny said, intentionally acting hurt.

"Hannah tells me that you lot invite us nearly twice a month, I've been meaning to come but I hardly ever get the chance to leave the castle. When I do, well, you know." Neville's face was turning red, so Harry changed the subject.

"So, Ginny and I have a bet going about whether James will be a seeker or a chaser, you want in?" Harry asked.

"I'll put ten galleons on seeker. He's just too damn fast to be a chaser." Neville said, earning a glare from Ginny and a laugh from Harry.

The tryouts started at six that evening, seeker tryouts were first. James was by far the best flyer of the three students trying out. The chaser tryouts went a bit differently than expected, with Victoire, Dominique, and Louis all getting the nod. The two American twins, Ian and Ryan, made a fierce beater pairing. Fred got keeper, but only just. The young Susan, sister of Ian and Ryan, gave him a run for his money, saving the same number of shots in the first three rounds before losing by one save in the fourth round of ten.

After the tryout had concluded, Harry, Ginny, and Neville made their way into the castle to join the feast. Harry had avoided the great hall as much as possible since he started working at the school. He usually just grabbed some food from the kitchen and ate in his office, or went home directly if Ginny wasn't working and had food prepared.

During the feast, Harry noticed Ginny's owl fly through the great hall carrying the tell-tale red envelope that everyone knew was a Howler. It dropped the envelope in front of James, where it opened itself and screamed, in Ginny's voice. "How dare you skip your classes?! I have half a mind to send your broom back, if I ever hear about you skipping class for a silly reason like that I'll come teach as well! And I assure you, I won't be as easy going as your father! Oh, and by the way, congratulations on making Seeker, but you lost me twenty galleons, so you'll be paying that back with chores." The envelope then jumped off of the table and ran, directly into the fireplace.

Harry watched his son's face as the howler did its work. The coloring went from normal, to red, to green, and back again during the course of the howler's words. He laughed as his son realized that his mother must have sent the owl after the tryout. He turned to look at his parents sitting at the staff table, and joined in the laughter when he saw the laughing expressions on their faces.

After they had eaten their fill, Harry and Ginny walked out of the great hall toward his office, where they were going to floo to their house. "Do you have your broom here?" Ginny asked as they walked into the office.

Harry nodded, knowing what his wife was thinking. He moved, not toward the fireplace, but to a small closet that held his Firebolt, he hadn't brought the prototype to the school, fearing a student would see it. He and Ginny mounted the broomstick and flew from his office window. They flew over the grounds, and past the wards surrounding the school. They flew over Hogsmeade and the wooded areas surrounding it. They flew near enough to the burrow to smell the dinner that Molly had prepared for her grandchildren, most of them seemed to live there during the school year if they weren't old enough for Hogwarts. Then, they flew around Godric's Hollow, landing in the front yard of their home.

"How long has it been since we just flew? Just the two of us, flying. It used to be one of our favorite things to do." Ginny said, looking into his eyes as they stood in their yard. "It seems like we haven't been off the ground since this damned _darkness_ appeared. I hardly leave the house except for work. And when I'm here, I always feel like that, that _thing_ is going to be waiting around the corner." Ginny had nearly broken down into tears, when Harry grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close.

"Gin, nothing has happened in over a month, the house is under a fidelius charm, and you're safe. Besides, you've gotten good enough at occlumency that I don't think even Voldemort could get into your head now." He finished, kissing her. He pulled away after a moment, and mounted the broom again, pulling her with him. "And, as for the whole flying thing." He kicked off, and they flew, with no destination in mind.

In the alley across from the place where the Potter house stood, hidden, stood a man in black robes, his face obscured. He saw the two Potter adults fly above him, disappearing when they reached the property line. They reappeared a few moments later, flying the opposite direction. They looked at ease, happy.

"Good," the man said, "get comfortable, you're in for the ride of your life, Potter." The man smiled, unseen by anyone else, and spun on the spot, disappearing with a _pop._

 **A/N (2):** I was recently informed that my spelling of the House Gryffindor was incorrect. I am working to rectify that, presently.


	10. Duelists and Darkness

**Disclaimer:** _I'm going to stop putting these at the beginning of each chapter, you people know I don't own Harry Potter._

Harry hadn't fully anticipated the amount of publicity the Hogwarts Dueling Competition would attract. It seemed that since he and Hermoine had announced it to the press at the Ministry the week before, Harry couldn't even teach his classes without getting a mountain of letters deposited on his desk from reporters. Ginny, of course, had been the first to publish a story. She rarely strayed outside of the quidditch section in her reporting, but occasionally she made an exception when Harry gave her the information before anyone else could know about it.

Harry was glad the tournament was less than an hour away, so that all the owls would stop and he could get back to just being a teacher, albeit an incredibly famous one. Harry stepped out of his office to find no less than seven reporters, he declined to answer their questions. As he walked down the corridors, the group of reporters following him grew larger and larger. By the time he reached the area where the four dueling platforms had been set up, there were at least thirty of them following him. He took his place between Neville and Malfoy on the platform closest to the castle, and addressed the crowd.

"Good afternoon, students and guests. Today marks the first ever Hogwarts Dueling Championship." This brought a fairly large amount of applause, mainly from the students. "As you know, the plan was to have a competition in each house to see who would face their head of house in a final contest. However, plans change, and I have been informed that we cannot allow professors to duel the students, so instead we will place all twenty-four students in a single elimination tournament with the top three earning house points and the champion receiving an invitation to the British Dueling Invitational in London this summer. Now, since we prepared our heads of house for a dueling competition, we decided that the only course of action would be to allow them to face each other to open the tournament. So without further ado, the first duel of the day. Professors Flitwick and Longbottom, facing Professors Malfoy and Ansley

The battle that followed between the professors was easily the most exciting duel Harry had seen in some time. Professor Flitwick and Neville were moving nonstop, dodging spells and throwing their own back. Malfoy had created a bunker by conjuring bricks around his location and putting his shield charms on the bricks instead of himself. Harry nearly forgot the young professor Ansley was in the fight, when he materialized behind Flitwick, sweeping his short legs from under him and disarming the professor. This left Neville to face the pair of them alone. Neville, to his credit, didn't miss a beat.

The pair backed Neville into the barrier surrounding the platform, and seemingly hit him with a stunner. Harry had seen the spell disappear into the barrier behind him, but Neville crumpled to the ground. The two professors across from him had only just began celebrating, when a blue light shot from where Neville lay, hitting Ansley square in the chest. This sent his wand soaring, Neville rolled to his feet and caught the wand, which he used to turn Malfoy's barrier into ice. He followed this up by casting a large fireball at the base of the structure, melting it. What followed was some of the quickest spellwork Harry had seen in his adult life. Neville, wielding two wands, sent a stunner at Malfoy's legs. Malfoy jumped to dodge the red light, which was exactly what Neville wanted. Harry noticed the smirk on his friend's face before he realized what had happened.

While Malfoy was in the air, Neville had refrozen the water from the melted barrier. When Malfoy landed on the ice, he lost his balance. This gave Neville the opening he needed to stun and disarm his opponent. Malfoy took it all in stride, however, getting up and reaching to shake his opponents' hands.

After the platform had been cleared, the actual tournament began. Harry took the stage to introduce the combatants. "From Gryffindor: fifth years, Rein Cornwell and Dominque Weasley; sixth years, Ryan Smith and Sascha Bell; and seventh years Victiore Weasley and Elias Aston. Representing Ravenclaw: fifth years Constant Feld and Roscoe Winthrop; sixth years Cherise O'Neill and Louis Achthoven; and seventh years Kendra Sheinfeld and Leyton Tipton. Hufflepuff sends fifth years Wenonah Phillips and Heinrike Devereux, sixth years Zena Foss and Billy Achterop, seventh years Able Sneijers and Tucker Driscoll. Finally, representing Slytherin house: fifth years Lynsay Ryley and Clemens Arbeid, sixth years Luvenia Killough and Haden Alfred, and seventh years Juliana Seymour and Darion Hailey." The first round saw sixth years facing fifth years from different houses.

Luvenia eliminated Heinrike in the first match of the competition. Followed by Dominique eliminating Zena, Ryan eliminating Clemens, and Billy eliminating Rein without even allowing Rein to cast one spell. The platforms were cleared, and the next round commenced. Lynsay wiped the floor with her opponent, Louis Achthoven. This match ended more quickly than the others happening at the time, eventually Constant, Cherise, and Haden eliminated Sacha, Wenonah, and Roscoe respectively.

The second round saw the winners facing random seventh year students. All of the seventh years were victorious, aside from two. Tucker was defeated by Dominique, who used her Veela charm to distract him while she disarmed him. Ryan also defeated his older opponent, Darion Hailey, an incredibly strong, incredibly mean Slytherin that Harry had almost removed from the dueling club after he punched his opponent in the face in one of their meetings.

The third round was where it got interesting. With Dominique facing her older sister in the first match. It was highly anticipated, but not so highly competitive, with Dominique falling within five minutes. Ryan, being now the youngest duelist still in the competition, survived the third round by summoning his broom and using it to fly around the platform, just inside the boundaries, and shoot stunners at Juliana, who was so taken aback by the strategy that she hardly moved, until one of the stunners found its mark and threw her across the platform, causing her to drop her wand. Abel and Leyton also advanced, eliminating Kendra and Elias in the process.

This left the semi-final matches, where Victiore continued her winning ways, eliminating Ryan in the longest duel so far. Leyton and Abel, not to be outdone, gave the crowd a spectacular display, with the duel finally ending when Leyton threw himself into the barrier, using it to bounce forward at Abel, and surprising him by sliding into his leg and casting a disarming charm as he fell. Abel and Ryan then competed in a third place match, with Ryan easily overcoming Abel with a simple stunner. People in the crowd all concluded that Abel came into the match still upset over his previous loss.

The final match of the competition was easily the most exciting of the day. Victiore was very popular with most all of the students, including a fairly large number of Slytherins. Leyton, a Ravenclaw, was well liked, but the quiet sort. Nobody would have picked him to advance past Abel, who was nearly unmatched in the dueling club. This was hard to believe, considering he had just been bested by a sixth year from America.

The final match started, much like every other duel, with the two combatants throwing simple stunning spells and disarming charms to test their opponent's defenses. Victiore was moving, graceful as ever, back and forth on her end of the platform. She hardly ever even had to block a spell from Leyton, who was standing still, weaving shield charms to deflect Victiore's stunners. Victiore danced around the outskirts of the platform forcing Leyton into the middle. Harry thought this was her best move, considering how Leyton had won his last match by using the barrier. She continued to move around him, coming closer with every rotation, throwing more and more complex spells at him. Just when Harry thought she was going to get close enough to breach his shields, Leyton dropped his defenses and dove away from her, twisting in the air and casting a patronus. Harry was incredibly confused for a moment, What good would a patronus do in a duel. He would have his answer momentarily, when the shining form of a hawk flew directly at his niece's face, obscuring her vision. Leyton used the distraction to move, more quickly than Harry had though him capable of, behind Victiore. He reached around her as his patronus disappeared, and plucked her wand from her hand.

A stunned silence spread across the group of spectators, but only lasted a moment. The Ravenclaws in attendance were the first to break into applause, followed by everyone else, including Victiore. In the end, Leyton earned Ravenclaw 100 points, while Ryan and Victiore, having placed in second and third, earned 125 combined. At the feast that night, all anyone was talking about was the tournament, which led Harry to believe that it had been a complete success. Most of the Gryffindors were bragging about their sixth year getting third place. Ryan, for his part, seemed content to just move on from the tournament entirely. He and his brother left the feast as soon as they finished their meals.

Harry followed the Smith twins out of the great hall, moving at nearly a run to catch up to them. He did so when the pair had to stop and wait for a staircase to stop moving. "You fought well today, Ryan." Harry said, trying to judge his response.

"I lost, though." Ryan said, unenthusiastically.

"Victiore is an incredibly talented duelist, there's no shame in losing to her." Harry replied, he was the talk of his year after going so far in the competition, he shouldn't be so upset.

"Look, professor, I know you're just trying to help and all, but I lost. And when you live like my family has for the past year, you come to associate losing a fight with much worse consequences than a third place match." Ryan said, turning and walking away from Harry and his brother.

"You'll have to excuse my brother, he's very competitive. You really don't want to see him if we lose at quidditch." Ian forced a laugh before following his brother, leaving Harry to find his way back to the great hall. While he was making his way toward the feast, which was nearing its close, he heard the alarms from the wards surrounding the school start to sound. He ran to look out of the nearest window, and he saw it. A cloud, darker than the usual darkness of the grounds at night, was moving quickly toward the castle. A thousand thoughts shot through Harry's mind, but he pushed them aside reflexively. He sprinted down the stairs to the doors of the castle, where he met all of the staff, prefects, and the adult visitors there for the tournament.

He found the headmistress on the steps, and she stepped aside. Gesturing for him to take control. He saw the darkness approaching, and an idea occurred to him. "Call the dueling club, they can all cast corporeal patroni," Harry said, to no one in particular, he heard footsteps moving away from him, then heard the sound of the students moving out of the great hall. He turned to them, "All of you will stay at the doors of the school and cast your Patronus toward that cloud, if I'm right, it will push the darkness back and we can fight whatever is inside." A moment later, he saw the same Lioness from his first Defense class pounce over the adults on the steps, followed by no less than fifty other animals. The light produced by them was nearly blinding, but it worked in driving back the cloud that had been approaching. As it was forced back, Harry saw what was hiding within. Hundreds of the same golems that had attacked the restaurant stood, wands raised, on the grounds of Hogwarts.

Harry and the other professors didn't wait for the golems to make the first move. Harry and Hermoine, who was there for the tournament, both cast their first spells at the same target. Harry saw the golem split in two as both of the _Reducto_ spells hit it in the stomach. He noted that the anatomy seemed identical to that of a human, which was sickening. The combined might of the ministry workers and Hogwarts staff members had cut the numbers of the attacking force by nearly half before the golems cast their first spell. Harry saw the green flashes of light fly in all directions, he dodged the one nearest him and hoped that everyone had done the same. He managed to disable another two of the golems before they cast their next barrage, Harry noted that this time there were far fewer killing curses. They were winning. By the time the golems managed to cast another spell, only five of them remained. These five were dealt with swiftly, and upon surveying the battlefield, Harry noted that only the golems lay on the ground. _That was too easy._ Harry thought, wondering what purpose this attack could have possibly served. He found his answer just as he thought about it, when Ian and Ryan came running from the castle.

They ran directly to Harry, "They found our parents!" they shouted in unison.

"What?" Harry said, "That's impossible."

"Just like getting into here is supposed to be impossible?" Ryan asked, gesturing to the fallen golems. Harry agreed to go to the flat and check on the American adults.

When harry arrived in the fireplace of his old apartment, he knew instantly that something had gone terribly wrong. He knew this because the building seemed to be crumbling around him. He shouted for his guests, but there was no response. He learned why when he rushed from the fireplace and tripped, over the body of Adam Smith. He searched the apartment as quickly as he could, not finding any other bodies, then he rushed back to the fireplace, bringing Adam's body with him through the floo network to his home.

Harry spun into his house, clutching Adam's body in order to keep it from falling out early and into the wrong house. He was greeted by a scream from Adam's wife, Claire. This scream actually relieved Harry, at least the rest of them had gotten out.

"What happened?" Harry asked Tyler, who was the nearest one in any condition to answer the question. Tyler's face darkened, a look Harry was familiar with.

"Zach happened. The bastard attacked us when we were eating dinner." Tyler said, his tone murderous. "He attacked all of us, even his wife. When we started fighting back, he brought the damn building down. He was laughing about how no one was coming because everyone was at Hogwarts, so Adam ran to grab his two-way mirror and see if the children were alright. Zach caught him on his way back to the fireplace. Hit him with a killing curse and kept laughing while he flew out of the window on a broom. We've lived with that man for almost a year, and he just turns on us today? It doesn't make a damn lick of sense."

Just then, the fireplace went green again and Hermoine joined them. "Oh my," she said, kneeling down next to Claire, her hand on the crying woman's shoulder.

Something didn't seem quite right to Harry, "Did your friend Zach leave the apartment at any time in the last day or so?" He asked, Zach had been the adult in the group that Harry had seen the least of since they had arrived.

Kayla, who hadn't spoken yet, nodded, "He went for a walk yesterday, he never really liked being all shut up in the apartment," her voice was remarkably calm for someone wearing the distressed look Harry saw on her face.

"Was anything different when he returned?" Harry asked, wheels turning in his head. After a few silent moments, Kayla spoke again.

"He was happy," she said, "for the first time in almost a year, he was smiling and laughing. I just thought the fresh air had done its job." Her voice broke on her last word and she started sobbing. Harry, however, had the answers he needed.

"I don't think the person that attacked you was your friend." Harry said, explaining everything he knew about the creature that had attacked Ginny. To their credit, the Americans didn't seem surprised at all.

"So, this thing, the one that attacked your wife, can change its form?" Kayla asked, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

Harry nodded, "We thought that it could only change its face to the mirror of the person that was looking at it. But, I suppose it could be similar to a metamorphmagus and be able to change its form to whatever it likes."

"But, then what happened to Zach?" Kayla asked. The hope in her eyes making Harry not want to tell her his thoughts.

"There's no way to be sure." He answered, but something told him that whatever had happened to him, it was terrible.

Zach awoke in a dark, damp cell. "Oh good, you're awake." A voice, eerily similar to his own said from outside his cell.

"Where am I?" Zach asked the voice, unable to see where it came from. "Who are you?"

"Who am I? Well, I suppose right now, I'm you." The voice said.

"What the hell? What do you mean?" Zach asked, more than a little confused.

The owner of the voice appeared in front of the small window in his cell door, and turned to face him. Zach's voice failed him when he saw his own smiling face on the other side. "Ah, you've been so quiet all day, we can't have you starting that again." His captor pointed a wand through the bars of the cell. Zach only had time to think, _is that mine?_ Before the man on the other side said "Crucio" and the most intense pain Zach had ever felt came over him. He screamed, and his captor laughed, "Much better." The last thing Zach heard before the pain overwhelmed him and caused him to pass out was, "Oh, well that's no fun. I'll be here when you wake up, Zachary."

 **A/N:** This chapter is a bit longer than some of the others, I think I may have gotten a bit carried away with the dueling competition, but it could have gotten way longer. I included all of the names of the competitors because they each will play a role in later chapters, or in Albus' storyline. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, I'll probably wait a couple of days to upload to this story again.


	11. Reactions

A/N: I put this on the last installment of the Albus storyline, but I'll put it here too. I would like to have something resembling a cover image for this story, but as it turns out my ability to draw/paint/make basic shapes is sorely lacking. So if anybody wants to make a cover I'd be more than a little grateful.

The service was a small affair, Claire had decided that instead of having a funeral, a memorial would be the better choice. They only knew one family in the area, after all, and her husband was never one for making a big deal out of things. As it turned out, the one family they knew in Britain was, by far, the largest, most oddly close family they could have met. Claire was grateful for this, because at least the children had others their age around to keep them busy. Harry had been a huge help with the children also. They were all due to return to Hogwarts that afternoon, but even a day having to stop her grief to shepherd her children to the school seemed exhausting.

Harry walked into the room, fully aware of the grief that all of the children inside were feeling, and wondering if today was the best day to bring them back. As it turned out, they were more than willing to return to the castle. Harry knew that feeling well, Hogwarts had always been his escape from the troubles his life had presented. After all of the children, every single Weasley child had come to the service, alongside the American children, had passed through the fireplace and back to Harry's office at Hogwarts, Harry stepped into the fireplace and dropped his own powder.

"All right, everyone?" Harry asked, when they all nodded, he continued. "Get back to class, then. All of you except Ryan, Ian, Susan, and Michael." The other children left, leaving only Harry and the Smith children in his office. "I know that this weekend was incredibly hard on you four. Losing a parent is, in my opinion, the worst feeling in this world. I just wanted to let you all know that I'm here, if you need to talk… I've, um, been through something similar, a few times actually." Harry thought back to his parents, who he only remembered due to his repeated run ins with the dementors that brought back his worst memories, usually including their deaths. His thoughts then moved to Sirius, and how he had been laughing when his cousin's curse had knocked him through the veil. He thought of Remus and Tonks, who had been the closest he had to family, outside of the Weasleys of course. The list of people that Harry loved and had lost in the wars with Voldemort nearly overwhelmed him for the first time in many years. He composed himself fairly quickly though, and sent the four fatherless children to their common rooms, giving them each a large piece of chocolate, it was what Remus would have done.

The next day, classes resumed and Harry noticed that of the four Smith students, only Susan arrived in his class for lessons. The day after, Michael rejoined his classmates. This left the twins, who Harry decided to check on if they missed the dueling club on the following day. Luckily, they didn't, but they did not partner with each other. Harry found this strange, as they had never chosen different partners since he had started the club. He realized quickly that they were being much more reckless and dangerous than normal with the spells they were casting. Ian had almost hit a new member, a fourth year named Cherish that Harry had seen practicing her patronus and asked if she wanted to join early. Of course, this meant that any student who could produce a patronus was now allowed, and Harry was bracing himself for Albus and Rose trying to force him into teaching them how over the winter break, which was looming. Harry decided on a course of action to bring them back down to normal, but he was very unsure of the outcome.

"Ian, Jared, the two of you partner up." They took their places across from one another and Harry stopped them before they could begin. "No, no, you misunderstand. I meant the two of you would be partners. Against me." A collective gasp escaped from the students that were close enough to hear it, and Harry smiled, pulling his wand from his side. "If the two of you can hit me with a spell, I'll excuse both of you from Defense classes until the Winter break."

A murmur went up around the three that were preparing for the duel. Harry bowed, and while he was doing so, the twins fired two stunners at him. He dodged them easily. "You really shouldn't attack when your opponent is preoccupied, that's bad form." Two more stunners came his way, Harry sidestepped them and continued, "Haven't we talked about this, fire at where I'm going, not where I am." This seemed to just anger them further, and Harry realized that he would have to be careful not to push them too far. He dodged four more attempts at stunning him, before casting a silencing spell so that the other children couldn't hear what he said next.

"I understand what you're feeling. I was nearly murderous after my godfather died," He said dodging another pair of spells, this time they weren't stunners, but light purple streaks that Harry had never seen before, he hoped they weren't dark spells but didn't have time to dwell on it, as two more were already in flight. "I even tried to use an unforgivable on the woman that killed him. She was a real piece of work, that one. Bellatrix LeStrange, she hit him in the middle of a duel that me and Sirius were having with two other death eaters, that was what Voldemort called his followers. I watched him fall into a veil and disappear. There wasn't even a body to bury." This must have struck something in the twins, as they paused for a moment. "I'm truly sorry for what happened to your father, but you dishonor his memory if you hold on to the anger I can feel coming from the two of you."

"Are you telling me to _forget?_ " Ryan asked, he said the last word with so much venom that it reminded Harry of the times he had seen into Voldemort's mind.

"Oh, of course not, you can and should never forget. What I am suggesting, is not taking that anger out on anyone except for the one responsible." Harry said, dodging the final two stunners and moving in quickly to grab both wands from the twins' hands. "Then, maybe you can help us stop him."

The twins looked dumbfounded at his final statement, and he lowered the silencing charm before saying, loudly enough for the rest of the club to hear, "I expect to see you both in class tomorrow." He walked out of the room, leaving Malfoy and Neville to close the meeting.

A/N (2): I know that this chapter is a bit shorter than the others in this story, and that is because it really didn't fit in well with the chapter following it, and I particularly liked the way the prior chapter ended, so I didn't want to extend it with this one. I promise that this chapter is the exception, not the rule.


	12. Game Point

**I've always thought that my ability to name chapters was pretty good, but I went through a bit of slump with some of them in this story, sorry.**

Harry noted a change for the better in the twins during the week after their duel. They had not missed a class, and were back to normal in every way that Harry could see. He had promised to include them in any plans for the retaliation, but as of yet he had none. He also hadn't spoken to their mother about the situation yet, and didn't plan to until he had a plan in place. It was better to ask forgiveness, after all.

He was sitting in front of a class of fifth year Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, watching them write a short report on the differences between werewolf laws before and after the last war. He wished Remus had been able to see the world as it was now, the wolfsbane potion was being mass produced, and was easily obtainable. Hermoine had made werewolf rights her first priority when she joined the ministry. More than a few even worked at the ministry now. Harry considered his third year when he had first met Professor Lupin, the werewolf had become almost a father figure to Harry and was still the only Defense professor he had that left a good impression after the year was over.

More than half the class had finished their reports when the class ended, Harry gave them each a house point, and told the ones that hadn't finished to return with their completed paper at the next meeting. After the entire class had cleared out of the classroom, signaling the start of Harry's weekend, Harry walked to his fireplace and threw a pinch of green floo powder in, followed by his head, which appeared in his fireplace at home. "Gin!" he yelled, waiting for her response. Judging by how distant the following "One second!" was, Ginny was upstairs. Harry waited much longer than a second, and then his wife stepped into view.

"Hiya," Ginny said, smiling radiantly.

"Hi, Gin. Are you ready?" Harry replied.

"Do I look ready?" She asked, spinning once. She was wearing a full set of Gryffindor robes, as she usually did when they went to a quidditch match at the school. Harry admired her dedication to their house, but it did sometimes raise an eyebrow or two when she wore school robes in the staff and adult stand.

"I'd say so," Harry said, "You want to come through here?" Ginny nodded and Harry pulled his head out of the fireplace, followed closely by Ginny. He embraced her briefly, and led her down to the ground floor of the school.

As they walked across the grounds, Ginny asked, "So, when did they start scheduling quidditch matches on weekdays?" Harry shrugged, he was glad for the new schedule in any case. It meant he could stay home on the weekends without missing anything. They reached the pitch, which Harry still felt strange entering without his broomstick, and realized that they were the last to arrive. "Should we sit with the staff? Or Albus?" Ginny asked, Harry knew that his son wouldn't want his parents sitting with him at his first house match as a student. So, he led his wife to the staff stand.

They found a seat, directly behind Neville and Draco. Ginny's scowl when Draco first spoke to them was obvious, so Harry was thankful that he was distracted by the arrival of the teams. Gryffindor flew out of the tunnel first, with James flying in a circle as close to the stands as possible. He did pull away a bit when he passed the Slytherin stands. Harry thought this was smart, considering they were playing against them today. House relations, while much better than Harry's years, were always strained during quidditch matches.

Harry noticed that the twins seemed to be in much better spirits than usual, he supposed flying did that for people other than himself. Harry always assumed that the winner of the first game of the season, always Gryffindor versus Slytherin, was a clear indication of who would win the cup. Following the Gryffindor team's entrance, the Slytherin team flew from the tunnel in a much tighter formation than the Gryffindors had. None of the showboating that Harry had noticed from his house's team was present in the Slytherin entrance. Harry knew this was mostly because of the dominance that Gryffindor had shown in the competition of late. Slytherin hadn't won the cup since Teddy joined the team in his second year as a seeker. Malfoy and Harry had made a substantial bet on the winner of the cup this year, which meant that this game was much more important than usual to them.

The match began, and Harry thought back to his first game against the Slytherins, today's game was a much more subdued affair. Even though it was incredibly competitive, the malice that had been involved in this game during Harry's years was nowhere to be seen. After only three minutes, the score was tied at thirty, and Harry was sure he had seen the snitch at least twice. James and the Slytherin seeker, a seventh-year girl with blonde hair that Harry recognized as Juliana Seymour, one of the Slytherin competitors in the recent dueling competition, had not even glimpsed it so far. The reason why, to Harry, was obvious; James and Juliana were both busy attempting to interrupt the other team's chasers. After Gryffindor scored another twenty points, Victiore called a time out because a bludger had collided with the Gryffindor keeper from behind, nearly knocking him from his broom. While they waited for him to catch his breath, Harry motioned for James to come over to him.

"Great job so far, have you seen it?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer. James, who was slightly out of breath, shook his head. "I didn't think so, you need to get out of the fray, you'll never see it if you're surrounded by people and flying like a madman. Get up above the action, don't worry about their chasers." Harry knew his son already knew all of this, they had competed in countless family games with the Weasleys, usually both as seekers. James nodded, and the whistle blew indicating the match had resumed. James took off like a red and gold streak and began circling above the goal posts, only dropping into the fray when he could easily interrupt a Slytherin attack. The Gryffindor team had fallen behind by forty points, when Harry spotted the snitch for a third time.

This time, however, James had seen it too. Harry watched as his son flew like a bat out of hell, following the snitch on a journey that brought the two of them dangerously close to running into one of the towering stands. James was joined in his pursuit by Juliana, but his broom was simply too fast. He was well ahead of her when he caught up to the snitch, reaching out and catching it with his left hand. For a moment all of the spectators were silent, as James pulled up on his broom, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the goalposts. Then, when James raised his arm, opening his hand to show the captured snitch, the entire crowd went mad. The score was announced as three hundred seventy to two hundred eighty, and Harry could already see the beginnings of a large Gryffindor party that was sure to extend well into the night.

Ginny was screaming her lungs out, beaming at the display her son had just shown. Harry was smiling, also, and shaking hands with Malfoy, who looked subdued after his house's loss. Harry moved swiftly to the ground level to join in the festivities forming there. He wanted to congratulate the team before the party got too far out of control, he would leave Neville to deal with that disaster. He found James surrounded by Gryffindors of all ages, he was basking in the attention and Harry realized that his son hadn't inherited his distaste for attention. He was thankful for this, being a Potter did carry with it a large degree of fame, and it wasn't easily avoided.

"Well played, James." Harry said, patting his oldest son on the shoulders.

"Thanks dad," James said, "I would've never seen it if I stayed in the thick of it and tried to help the chasers. Your suggestion won that game."

Harry laughed, "I'd say a fair bit of it was your flying. I thought you were going to smash into the goalpost for a second there at the end." James looked hurt.

"I know how to fly, dad." James said, realizing his father was kidding he, too, started laughing. Harry left his son to his adoring fans, and found his wife laughing with Neville and Draco. "What's so funny?" He asked, curious.

"We were just talking about what we're going to do with Malfoy's money," Ginny said, "The cup's as good as ours if James keeps flying with reckless abandon like that."

"As much as I hate to agree with a Weasley, I think your wife may be right." Malfoy agreed, "I won't be giving up my galleons until the cup is well and truly won, mind." He amended swiftly.

Harry shrugged, "I'll be just as glad to take them at the end of the year, I assure you. It'll help recoup the cost of James' broomstick, before we have to buy Albus one for next year's tryouts."

Neville burst out laughing louder than before, "A team with two potters? How unfair," he said, not looking too concerned about fairness.

Malfoy spoke, composing himself, "You know, Potter, the professors usually go for a drink after the quidditch matches, you should join us," he looked at Harry for a moment, before adding, "You're welcome to bring Ginny along too, Hannah and Astoria should be joining also be joining us."

Harry looked to Ginny, who shrugged, "Oh, why the hell not?" She said, smiling.

They left the grounds of the school, after calling Molly on the floo and making sure she was okay with keeping Lily for the night. Of course, they knew she would be. Molly Weasley never turned down a chance to dote over one of her grandchildren. After the brief conversation, they flooed to Hogsmeade, where they met Neville, Hannah, Draco, Astoria, and Flitwick at the Three Broomsticks. Harry and Ginny both smiled when they saw the group, they were all listening intently to the story Flitwick was telling, he was gesturing wildly during the story, but paused mid-sentence when he noticed Harry and Ginny approaching. "Oh look, the Potters arrive!" he said, lifting his mostly empty glass in their direction. "Oh dear, I suppose it's time for a refill." He got up, and before he left he conjured two more chairs for Harry and Ginny.

"All right, Hannah?" Ginny said, before asking Harry to go order their drinks. When he asked her what she wanted, she responded with, "Surprise me." Harry walked to the bar and returned with a bottle of Firewhisky and two butterbeers.

"For the table," He said, placing the bottle in the center of their party, followed by cups for everyone. This was met with a cheerful response from his friends.

"So, professor, we saw you telling what seemed to be a captivating story when we arrived and interrupted you so rudely." Ginny said, clearly curious about the story Flitwick had been telling.

"Oh, it's not so captivating as that," Flitwick said casually, nursing his new drink. "I was only telling Neville and Draco about the years that I taught our new headmistress."

"You taught Rebecca?" Harry asked, surprised. At his friends' looks, he assumed they were not used to hearing the headmistress called by her first name. "What? She's not much older than we are," he said, earning a chuckle from Neville.

"You really don't care about people's names, first Voldemort, and now Rebecca. Next thing you know you'll be calling Ginny by her real first name, and we know how much she hates that." Neville said, earning him a light punch in the shoulder from Ginny.

"I wouldn't dare," Harry said, refilling his glass with Firewhisky. They stayed at the pub until well past closing, and well past when they should have left, if they were planning to do so without stumbling over one another. Flitwick left first, followed by Draco and Astoria, leaving the four friends there.

"So, Harry, any news on your new Dark admirer?" Neville asked, it had become a bit of a joke between them that dark wizards couldn't resist trying their luck against the 'Great Harry Potter'. In truth, Harry disliked the topic immensely, but he was willing to let his friend have his fun.

"Not really, ever since he leveled my old apartment building it's been really quiet." Harry said. He had expected this, whoever was behind all of the attacks was clearly patient. The dark clouds that seemed to plague Britain since the arrival of the Americans had even been less frequent, almost to the point of being nonexistent. Harry knew the fighting wasn't over, but he hoped that it would be a while before it returned, so that they could all be prepared for it.

"How are your houseguests?" Neville asked afterward, "It must be pretty packed with all of them there." Harry nodded, but Ginny was the one that responded.

"I actually enjoy having them there, it almost reminds me of being back at the Burrow." She said, finishing off her last glass of Firewhiskey, they had drained three bottles in the end. Ginny, in Harry's estimation, had nearly finished one on her own. He was in for a long night if he was correct, Ginny may be able to hold her liquor under normal circumstances, but using the floo afterward was sure to mean he was in for a night of holding her hair back. "Hannah, can I ask you something?" She said, eyeing her friend dangerously. Hannah nodded, smiling back, until Ginny finished, "When were you going to tell us?"

"Tell you what?" Hannah responded, feigning confusion.

"Oh, come on. You know what I'm talking about," Ginny continued, "you haven't touched any of the alcohol, and you've been picking out the cinnamon flavor every flavor beans, even though we all know you hate them. You're obviously pregnant, I'm just wondering when you were planning on telling the rest of us about it."

Harry was completely surprised at this revelation, he hadn't noticed any of the things his wife had pointed out. "What? You're pregnant?" Harry asked, when his friends both nodded, his confusion changed suddenly to excitement. "Well, this calls for a celebration!" He tried to get up, but he had apparently had more to drink than he realized, and found himself right back where he began, in his seat. "Another time, then." He said, the next thing he remember was being pulled out of the pub by his wife and Neville, and being put on the Knight Bus to a jovial greeting by Stan Shunpike.

"'Arry Potter! 'Ad a few, 'ave ye? Best to gettim to the back, then. Close to th' bins. Jus in case."

"Thanks, Stan." Ginny said, in the years after the war, She and Harry had spent more than a few nights getting driven home by the Knight Bus. It was, after all, hard to floo when your words were slurred.

"Tis nuffink," Stan said with a bow, as they walked toward the back of the bus, Harry barely heard Stan say, "Les go to Godric's Hollow firs, Ern. Don tink we should keep em on here too long." Harry had to agree, especially after the bus shot forward and he found himself hunched over the trash bin, losing what had to be the entire contents of his stomach. After that the last thing Harry remembered was reaching his bedroom, and waking up the next day to the sun streaking through his window.

 **A/N:** I really enjoyed writing this chapter, it also led me to writing more than a few one-shots that I'm going to be releasing during the time between when I finish uploading this one and when I finish writing book 2. I really enjoyed writing them also, and I think they'll make for a decent distraction while I wait to release the longer stories. Most of them are set during the years directly following the war, when Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and Ginny are dealing with the aftermath. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, the next one should be released on Thursday I think.


	13. Negotiations

**A/N: I'm excited to upload this chapter, this is where the real meat of the story begins, and where we get our first real (almost) glimpse of the villain.**

Harry awoke to the sun beaming into his window, and quite possibly the most excruciating headache he had ever experienced. This was quite impressive to Harry, as his scar had brought with it some extraordinary headaches in his youth.

"Oh good, you're awake." Ginny said, she obviously hadn't gotten up yet either. "One of us has to go pick up Lily."

Harry groaned, "Can't Molly keep her for a little while longer?"

Ginny laughed, "She'll probably keep her for as long as we like, but the odds of us ever getting her back grow smaller by the minute." She shoved Harry, nearly causing him to fall out of the bed, "and you're still dressed from last night, so you can just go without having to get ready."

She was right, Harry hadn't been alert at all upon his arrival in his bedroom, so he never changed out of the clothes he had been wearing the day prior. "Okay, but if I go get her, you get to make breakfast." At this, Ginny made a face.

Harry made his way to the fireplace, after noticing his shirt wasn't remotely clean enough even to visit the Burrow, changing, and brushing his teeth. Once he had flooed into the Burrow, he was instantly greeted by the sounds of children playing, much too loudly in Harry's estimation. Molly Weasley walked into the sitting room and saw Harry standing in the middle of the room wincing at the sound. "Harry, dear!" She exclaimed, but when she saw Harry's reaction to the sound of her voice she lowered it. "Sorry, dear, I didn't realize. Have you had breakfast?"

"Not yet, but Ginny's cooking as we speak, I think." Harry said. Truthfully, he didn't think he could stomach anything at the moment so he was hoping that his wife wasn't cooking at all. "I imagine Lily has no intention to come home yet." She never wanted to leave when there were other children at the Burrow, and during school there were always other children at the Burrow.

Molly laughed, "I'm sure she'll come willingly, after you bribe her." Lily had figured out very early that her father was more than willing to bribe her with sweets and toys to get her to cooperate. This time he preempted the situation by offering the bribe straight away.

"If you come home with me without giving me trouble, we'll go to Honeyduke's tomorrow and you can get whatever you want." This was his go to move when he didn't want to deal with Lily complaining and crying before going home. She complied instantly, and Harry left the Burrow with his daughter in near record time.

After a nap on the couch, Harry woke in a much better mood than he had been earlier in the day. He woke up this time to the smell of what he guessed was a very large lunch. He walked into the kitchen to find his wife and Claire smith working hard on two different dishes. Kayla, however, was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking a glass of wine. Harry, who now felt hungrier than he could ever remember being at the Dursley's, grabbed a particularly large piece of roast from a pot that seemed to be in Ginny's section of the kitchen and tore into it.

"Someone's hungry," Ginny said, laughing.

Harry nodded, "Thirsty too," He poured himself a glass of water, drained it in three swallows, and poured another. "I'm going to have to go to the school today. I seem to have forgotten all of the papers I have to grade this weekend."

"Can't imagine why," Claire said, chuckling "You two were in rare form last night."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Harry said, embarrassed, "I guess we should've warned you before we…"

Kayla finished his sentence for him, "Got hammered and arrived at four in the morning, yelling at someone named Stan."

"Stan?" Harry asked, he remembered taking the Knight bus to get home, but he didn't remember yelling at the conductor. He composed himself, and decided staying in the room with all the women that seemed intent on spending the day tormenting him would be foolish. So, he took his leave, and flooed to Hogwarts, where he planned to spend the day grading his third years' papers on Grindylows. It was to Harry's great dismay when he arrived in his office to a large amount of commotion. James and Fred were obviously attempting to prank him by leaving one of the instant floods inside his office, but his arrival had spooked them, causing the flood to be activated prematurely. His office was underwater within seconds. He knew that it was only an illusion, but that didn't change the panic he felt when he first saw the water rising. He swam down, toward the door, and opened it. Upon swimming out, his entire body was instantly dry and he waited for his son and Fred to join him.

To their credit, they stayed inside the office for an impressive amount of time. Harry assumed that they were waiting for him to cool down, but he wasn't angry. Mostly, he was irritated that he couldn't get to his papers without swimming to them. He had tried to summon them, but to no avail. He decided to spend his time plotting his revenge. He was pondering the likelihood of him being able to enlist his wife's help in pranking their firstborn son, when none other than Arthur Weasley came swimming into view.

Arthur swam out of the door, and landed much more gracefully than Harry had. "Goodness, Harry, your office is a…"

"Fishtank?" Harry asked, amused at the look on his father in law's face. "Yes, my son decided to attempt to prank me over the weekend, no doubt spurred on by his success on the quidditch pitch. His confidence seems to have failed him though, as he has not decided to come out so far." Harry looked Arthur for a moment and realized he must have a better reason for coming to Hogwarts with no warning than just to inspect the state of his office. "What do you need, Arthur?"

Arthur looked uncomfortable as he spoke, "Well, we have a bit of a situation at the Ministry."

"What kind of situation?" Harry asked, skeptically.

"I think it would be best to show you, it's really quite strange." Arthur said. Harry agreed to accompany him to the ministry. They left through another office, as Harry's was still underwater. Harry did place a spell on the door, sealing the two boys inside his office. House elves would bring them lunch if they hadn't had it, and if they got lucky, a particularly friendly one might help them escape.

When they arrived at the staff entrance of the ministry, Harry's credentials still worked as it turned out, he could tell that something was afoot. Usually, the entrance to the Ministry was always busy, but today it seemed that all of the action was happening just outside. Harry followed Arthur to the front of the crowd, where Hermoine stood face to face with a man with a face Harry recognized. Standing across from Hermoine, behind a shield that the ministry workers had clearly given up on dismantling, was Zach Findlay.

"Oh good, the man we've all been waiting for." Zach said, "Now we can get started." Harry realized that, clearly, the man inside the shield hadn't spoken much before this moment. Everyone in the crowd seemed genuinely surprised that he moved at all, much less spoken.

"I assume you're talking about me, and not my father in law. If not, this moment is going to be singularly embarrassing." Harry said, the tip of his wand resting on the palm of his hand, obscured by the sleeve of his coat. He walked up to the shield and gestured to him, "Why don't you come out, have a chat?"

"Oh, I can talk just fine from in here, thanks." Zach said.

 _No, not Zach, he just looks like him._ "Well then maybe you could just show us your real face?" Harry asked, knowing it wasn't likely.

"Oh, how clever of you to figure out who I really was," the imposter said, sarcastically. "However, I regret that I can't show you my true face just yet, especially not in front of all of these fine people. You see, I'd hate to have to kill so many people before lunch."

"Well you're obviously not here to have any sort of cooperative conversation, so what do you want?" Harry asked.

"I just wanted to meet the wizard so intent on foiling my plans." The imposter said, smiling, "I wonder, what would it take to get you to hand over the Americans?"

"I'm afraid I don't have any Americans to hand over at this particular moment. I'll be sure to let you know if I find any though." Harry replied.

"Come on, Harry. We both know that isn't true. Are you really willing to risk your family, simply to play the hero? I heard you were smarter than that." At those words, Harry dropped his friendly façade.

"If you touch anyone in my family again, I will.." The imposter had raised his wand, and Harry was unable to complete his sentence.

"Now, now, we don't want you to go making threats that we both know you can't make good on. Can't we just have a civilized conversation?" He dropped his wand and Harry could speak again.

"What do you want?" Harry snarled.

"I thought we were past this. I want you to hand over the Americans, or just one of them, really." The imposter said, adding, "I've been hunting a very specific group, if you didn't know already, and only one of them remains. I had thought to use his wife to lure him to me, but she seems to be averse to the idea of luring her husband into my grasp, even if it would mean her freedom."

"She wouldn't work with you? I can't imagine why." Harry said, some of his composure returning.

"I'm getting bored with this conversation, and I can see it's going nowhere. So, I'll get to the point. You have two options, hand over Tyler to me and I leave the country, and your family, alone." He paused for a moment, "Or, you can attempt to keep him from me, and I will kill everyone and everything that stands in my way. Including your daughter, Lily's her name, isn't it?"

"You told me what you want, but not why. Why?" Harry asked, ignoring the comment about his daughter.

The imposter laughed, "Isn't it obvious? It's fun." And with that, the shield shimmered and disappeared, alongside the man inside. The voice, however, continued. "You have three days." Harry was left, along with the rest of the Ministry, staring at the place where he had once stood. In the air, hanging just where his face had been, was a clock, and when the last word rang out, it started counting down.


	14. Revelations and Revisions

Harry stood in the headmistress' study, facing the many portraits hanging there, and recalled the entire conversation from the day before. He had, after all, told Albus that he would bring them any new information. He wasn't sure he had learned anything during his conversation with the imposter, but he was certain his former headmaster would expect to be informed. As he finished recounting the entire experience, Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling. "Well we know he's obviously after something other than, as you say, fun. I think, in fact, that we may know exactly what he's after." Harry looked at him, questioningly, and the white-haired wizard continued, "Aberforth, after extensive research into magical artifacts in America, found a rumor. According to some, there are seven rings called the 'eptá Kidemónon'. That is Greek for the Seven Guardians, they're said to each carry a separate power. Per the legends, they were created by a group of wizards just before the American Revolution, some say that George Washington himself was among them."

Harry, who had some experience with legendary objects, laughed, "So we've basically got another seven Deathly Hallows. Great." Then he thought of something, "And you think he's after all seven."

"I'm almost certain he already has at least four of the set." Dumbledore said.

This surprised Harry, but he allowed his headmaster to explain the legends associated with the rings. One was said to bring about a darkness that only the wearer could see through. Another, according to Dumbledore, could change the wearer's appearance. _Well at least now we know how he's doing that,_ Harry thought. Dumbledore went on to explain that another could conjure storms and control them. _Well, I'm glad that one isn't being used yet._ The next, supposedly, warned the wearer of any immediate danger, and was said to increase the speed and reflexes of the wearer. Another of the rings was supposed to summon an impenetrable shield. _Yep, seen that one too._ Harry was starting to wonder if he was going to be able to stop this dark wizard, even if he found him first. Another, Dumbledore postulated, was assumed to be used by George Washington, it created golems that could be controlled by the creator. Harry guessed that this one was particularly useful during the Revolution, considering the armies of that time usually just marched directly at each other. It also explained the way the Golems all attacked in waves, just like the soldiers of that time. The seventh, according to Dumbledore, was a complete mystery.

"Aberforth, in all of his research, cannot find any information about the seventh ring, other than who its first owner was rumored to be, Benedict Arnold." Harry knew enough about the American Revolution to know that Benedict Arnold was a traitor, it made sense that if he had one of the rings, it would still be an unknown quantity.

"Do we know anything about how the rings work, Headmaster?" Harry asked, and Albus shook his head.

"We know very little, much like the deathly hallows, these rings were considered mere legends until now." Dumbledore said, "I think the best course of action would be to speak to one of the Americans about it, I believe you are still harboring one of the men?"

Harry nodded, "I think you're right, but if what you're saying is true, he's unlikely to tell me anything. He's had more than enough time to come to me about the rings if he suspected that they were the target."

"Forgive me if I'm wrong Harry, but I seem to remember a professor that once held a secret for many years about a young Tom Riddle. I also remember a sixth-year Gryffindor that managed, somehow, to gain the information that even I couldn't." Dumbledore said, "I believe you may be the most qualified wizard, in fact, for the task at hand."

Harry left the study a few moments later, somehow feeling better about their chances, and worse about the situation, all at once.

The Winter holidays approached at an alarming rate, Harry spent most of his time focusing on the dueling club, which now included all of the NEWT level defense against the dark arts students, and quite a few students that hadn't even elected to continue the class after their OWLs. Harry pushed his students much harder, especially after the attack on the school. Frankly, Harry was impressed at how well the students had responded to the attack.

More and more students from the younger classes had come to Harry's office, casting wispy patronus after wispy patronus. He allowed each of them to try, but so far, only three students below fifth year had managed to cast an acceptable patronus to join the dueling club. He was seriously considering, however, opening the club to students below the OWL level, but he would have to find a new entrance requirement. He was sitting in his office, grading a third-year paper about defending against rogue werewolves, when Ian and Ryan arrived in his office.

The twins were becoming a consistent sight in Harry's office, he had once joked about getting them their own desks, but they had thought he was being serious. Thankfully, he managed to talk them down to having their own chairs and a couple of incredibly extravagant lap desks that Harry had conjured up. "Hello, you two." Harry said as the door closed and they took their seats. Thankfully, he had some new information for them this time. Harry hadn't told them about the rings, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to.

He started the conversation with no real pleasantries being exchanged beforehand. He told them about his encounter with the imposter, he had actually taken to calling him that in conversation. The twins remained stoic throughout the entire story. At one point, Ian even yawned. When he moved to put his hand over his mouth to cover the yawn, Harry noticed the ring he was wearing. A black stone was set in a platinum ring, when he moved his hand, Harry could swear he saw flashes of light coming from inside the stone. _That must be the one with the storm inside,_ Harry thought, as he examined the ring, pausing his story.

"I'm sorry, am I boring you?" Harry asked, attempting to cover for his abrupt pause. Ian shook his head.

"No, professor, I'm just exhausted. Quidditch, our research, and the dueling club, all on top of classes has me wiped out." Ian said, yawning again. This time Harry saw the Roman numeral VI on the side of the ring. _Curious_ , he thought, _I wonder why they're numbered._ He made a mental note to tell Dumbledore about that, and decided he may as well ask Ian about the ring.

"Ian, I wonder, could I see that ring?" Harry asked, pointing it out. Ian looked confused, but took it off and slid it across the desk to him.

"I don't see what my ring has to do with anything, professor. I found it in my trunk yesterday, I didn't even realize I had it, must've found its way into my stuff while we were on the run." Harry found this to be even more curious. Why would he have such an important ring without even knowing he had it? Harry could feel power radiating from the stone, and spiking each time it flashed. Harry decided that if he didn't realize the power he held, it should probably stay that way. _The last thing Hogwarts needs is a student that can control the weather._ He passed the ring back across the table, deciding not to tell them anything about the other rings, lest they put the pieces together and learn the power Ian held.

After the twins left, Harry summoned his penseive from the cupboard and watched his own encounter with the imposter over again, hoping to learn something new. Upon entering the memory, he looked first to the man inside the shield, and focused on his hands. He was wearing a ring, with an emerald colored stone set in a golden band. Harry hadn't noticed before, but it seemed to be pulsating along with the shield. _Well that's obviously the shield one, then._ Harry then looked more closely at the ring, and found what he was searching for in the numeral, II, engraved into the side of the band. He was also wearing a ring on his other hand, but Harry could only see the band. He assumed that this one was allowing the imposter to take on the form of Zach. He couldn't see the number engraved on the side, and since the man in the shield moved very little during their conversation, he never got the chance.

After watching the memory three more times, Harry decided that he had learned everything he could from the scene, and decided to return home for the night.

Harry flooed to his sitting room, to find Ginny sitting on the couch with Hermoine, who seemed to be telling a very animated story about something that had happened at the Ministry that day. Ginny looked incredibly bored with the whole ordeal, but she managed to look interested when Hermoine looked up at her. Harry knew that Ginny cared very little about the inner workings of the Ministry, just as Hermoine cared very little about quidditch. The two women, for their parts, always managed to abide the other's work stories, though.

They both looked up and smiled as Harry stepped out of the fireplace into the room. "Harry!" Hermoine said, "Just who I wanted to see. I'm having an absolute nightmare trying to fill your position in the DMLE. I need you to recommend a replacement."

"You just want a scapegoat so you don't have to take the blame if they do poorly, you're turning into a real politician, Granger." Harry said, but he pondered her question and came up with an answer fairly quickly, "You should promote Luca Lauritz, he's probably the most qualified." Luca had been an Auror in Germany before moving to Britain during the last war. He had fought with the defenders at Hogwarts, and Harry had always admired him for moving into a war zone instead of away from it. Hermoine had always thought he was a bit too combative for any important positions, though, and Harry didn't have high hopes for his suggestion.

"I don't know, Harry. He's pretty abrasive most of the time, do you really think the rest of the Aurors would listen to him? Much less the rest of the DMLE?" Hermoine asked, Harry had expected a simple 'No', so this threw him off.

"I think he's got all of the qualities you need in a leader, he's calm in a crisis, and he's experienced as an Auror in two countries. I think he'd be a great department head, just like I thought he'd be a great head Auror when I took the promotion last time." Harry said, Hermoine just nodded and he was left wondering if he had convinced her. After a few minutes of small talk, Harry decided he may as well have the conversation with Tyler sooner rather than later. "Have either of you two seen Tyler?" Harry asked. It was Ginny who answered.

"He was upstairs last time I saw, he doesn't come down too often when we're not eating." She said, "Probably in the first guest bedroom." Harry left them in the sitting room and started toward the bedroom, still unsure about how to bring up the questions he had.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry found Tyler sitting in a chair, looking out of the window at the street below. Harry stood for a moment, trying to get a glimpse of his hands. Tyler eventually noticed Harry, and smirked at him.

"It's strange, isn't it?" Tyler asked, motioning to the street below, "We can see them, they can't see us. It's actually a little creepy if you think about it."

Harry had thought of this, especially considering James' long lasting crush on the muggle girl next door. Harry had caught him spying with the Omnioculars from his first Quidditch World Cup while she was sunbathing last summer. This had been nothing, however, compared to when the girl herself had caught him, a few weeks later. Harry heard the screaming from his bedroom, and thought to himself, _If that girl was a witch we'd be seeing some really serious accidental magic._ He smiled, thinking about it, which seemed to perplex Tyler, based solely on the look Harry saw on his face. He nodded and sat down, "I'm just hoping James doesn't realize that the muggles can't see him from here. I'll have to make a Marauder's Map for my house."

"A what?" Tyler asked, confused.

"Nevermind that," Harry said, it wouldn't do to get caught up in a conversation about his father's friends. "I actually needed to talk to you about something."

"Alright, shoot." Tyler said, turning the chair around to face him.

"Well, you know I had a bit of an.. altercation with our little imposter." Tyler nodded. "Well, afterward, we found out some new information about how he's accomplishing all of these incredible feats." Harry paused, Tyler was nodding, a bit more slowly now. "You see, my old headmasters believe he's using some special rings. I didn't really believe it at first, but then I saw one of the twins wearing one."

Tyler stopped him, "I'm sorry, the twins have what?" His face was lit up.

"Yeah, he said he found it in his things, just after the attack on Hogwarts." Harry responded.

"This is incredible." Tyler said, excitement clear on his face. "We've got to talk to them right now."

"Now, hold on." Harry said, "You need to explain all of this to me, before we talk to them."

Tyler told much the same story that Dumbledore had, except he knew exactly who had the rings. After Tyler finished his story, he finished, "Was there anything else you needed to know?"

"Just one thing," Harry said, "What do the numbers mean?"

Tyler laughed, "Well, they're the order they were made in. Also, it's kind of like a power indicator, the higher the number, the more powerful the ring is."

This seemed like a positive turn of events, considering the twins had the sixth ring, which should theoretically be the second most powerful. It made sense, controlling the weather seemed pretty intense. Then he remembered that there were seven. "One more thing, who has the seventh ring?" Harry asked, curious. Tyler smirked at him, and pulled a chain from around his neck, hanging from it were two rings. One was a wedding band, Harry hadn't noticed that he wasn't wearing it on his hand anymore, had Tyler given up on finding his wife? Harry didn't ponder this for long, though, and found his eyes drawn to the other ring, which was incredible, even compared to the two that Harry had already seen. It had six small stones set around a much larger, pearl-like gem that seemed to glow. Harry saw the numeral VII on the side of the band. "So, what does this one do?"

"Well, everything." Tyler said, before correcting himself, "Everything that the others can do, anyway." Harry couldn't believe this, if he had this kind of power, how had they been forced out of their country and on the run. He asked Tyler this, and a sad look crossed his face. "The power in this ring, while it may tip the balance in our favor if I use it, is too great to wield for an extended period. The last time it was truly used, the person, my grandfather, had his entire magical core burned out. It made him a squib. It has only been worn once since that day."

"So you can't control it?" Harry asked.

"Oh, I'm sure I could, but it would likely take all of my magic." Tyler said, "It'll be our last resort, if we can't stop him by other means. Now, let's go talk to the twins."

"Hi, Mr. T." Ian said as he walked into Harry's office and saw his father's friend sitting in one of the large chairs, usually reserved for himself or Ryan. "Ryan's off somewhere, probably in the middle of a make-out session with one of the Ravenclaw girls that follows him around everywhere. What'd y'all need?"

"Well, Ian, we were just wondering how much you know about that ring you're wearing." Tyler said. "Have you noticed anything different since you started wearing it?"

Ian looked more confused than he had when Harry had asked to see it, he touched the ring with his left hand, "This thing? It's just a ring, I'm not even sure where I got it. What's with all the questions about it?"

Tyler spoke again, completely serious, "That ring was your dad's." Ian looked shocked for a moment, then looked down at the ring again. When he had looked at it for a while without speaking, Tyler continued, "He had it on during the attack."

"Wait, what?" Ian asked, his face as white as a ghost. "He couldn't have, I found it in my bag like the day after that happened, how could he have gotten it there?"

"That's actually what I'm trying to find out," Tyler said, "Because I saw him with the ring on, after he was hit. Then when Harry brought his, um, body back to the house, it was gone. I thought it was lost, but then Harry told me you had it." Ian's face was even more white than before at this news, "Needless to say, I was very surprised to hear that the ring had found its way into your possession. Pleasantly surprised, that is."

"What's so important about this ring?" Ian said, louder than Harry had expected. Harry could've sworn he heard thunder outside the castle when he spoke. "My dad is dead, and instead of trying to find out who is truly behind it, all you two are worried about is a damned ring!" He slammed his hand down on the desk at the last word, and the room lit up with electricity. After a moment, Harry realized it was because lightning had struck his desk, splitting it almost entirely in two. Ian was looking down at his hand, which was still crackling with the power of electricity.

The three of them were completely silent for a moment, before Ian started laughing softly. "I guess that explains it." Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. "So, my dad had some sort of power ring, I guess you and Mr. Findlay each have one?" Tyler nodded, before Ian continued, "Let me guess, we're trying to get them to a volcano and destroy them? Hopefully we can get past that damned eye." Harry was confused, and looked to Tyler who was chuckling to himself also.

"Actually, we can't destroy them, because we have to assume the other five are already in the hands of the darkness." Tyler said, even through his laughter. He noticed Harry's confused look and explained, "It's a movie and book series, Lord of the Rings. A Hobbit, a short humanoid species that lives in hollowed out hills, purely fictional of course, has to bring a ring that turns him invisible to a volcano to destroy it. That's not important though, what is important is that we now know that your dad, somehow, got the ring to you, Ian, which gives us a real chance."

"A real chance at what?" Ian asked.

"Winning." Tyler said, "Until I heard that the ring may still be on the right side, I had almost given up completely." He was still grinning like a madman.

"But if there are six others, and I only have one, how am I supposed to win?" Ian said, clearly remembering Tyler's earlier comment.

"Well, on top of the fact that yours is nearly the strongest, we also have this." He pulled the chain from around his neck, showing the ring on it.

"Oh yeah, you have one too. What does yours do?" Ian asked, leaning in to get a better look at the ring hanging from Tyler's neck.

"Well, everything that the others do, and according to legend even more, but I've never worn it." Tyler said. He explained the consequences of using the seventh ring, which brought back the same white faced expression from Ian.

"So, I'm alone?" Ian asked.

Harry finally spoke up, "No, you aren't." The other two looked at him, maybe they had forgotten he was there. "As it turns out, I have in my possession a few very powerful, almost mythologically powerful, in fact, artifacts."

"Really? What are they?" Ian asked, clearly skeptical.

"Well, have you ever heard of the Deathly Hallows?" Ian and Tyler both seemed much more intrigued now.

"Well, yeah, but those aren't real, are they?" Tyler asked.

"As it turns out, yes." Harry said, glad to finally be involved in the conversation again.

"And you have them?" Ian asked. Harry nodded, smirking. "That's sick."

"Sick?" Harry asked, knowing exactly what it meant, but he knew it annoyed the American children when he asked about their slang.

"C'mon Professor, I'm not explaining it again." Ian said, "Can I see them?"

"Well, I only have one of them with me." Harry said, moving to open the magically sealed compartment on the desk top. "There's a story that goes along with this one though, just like the others I guess. This wand, the elder wand, once belonged to Albus Dumbledore. It was even buried with him, but Voldemort stole it from his grave, and attempted to use it to finish me off. But, through a plan made by Dumbledore, it was loyal to me instead." He pulled the wand out of the compartment, "After Voldemort fell, I tried to destroy it. I thought it was too dangerous for it to still exist. But after I snapped it in half and threw it away, I woke up the next day to find it in my robes, alongside my normal wand. I tried quite a few times after that, to dispose of it. No luck, it always just reappeared. So I kept it, hidden of course, I'll be moving it tomorrow, considering my desk will need to be replaced."

"Sorry about that," said Ian, abashed.

"It's fine, I'm more worried about you having another outburst with the ring on. That could end poorly for everyone around you." Harry said, serious once again. "Would you consider using a chain, until you can control it, at least." Ian nodded, and pulled the ring off.

"I was planning on it." Ian said, "but how am I going to learn to control it."

Tyler had been waiting for this question, "I'm going to teach you, obviously."

A few minutes later, they had agreed to have lessons in the room of requirement every Tuesday and Thursday. Ian and Tyler had both departed, and Harry was left, holding the elder wand and wondering if he was actually going to be forced to use it.

I'm sorry for the wait, but my job has gotten a bit more hectic recently so I'm stretched to even check my emails, much less upload. I will try to get them up as often as possible though. I also couldn't think of a good title for this chapter, so any suggestions would be appreciated. As always, thanks for reading, I look forward to your feedback.


	16. Holiday Horrors

A/N: Sorry about the slower pace on the updates, I've been crazy busy, just know that they're coming and I haven't forgotten the story.

The lessons were set to begin at the school after the winter holidays, but Harry and Tyler thought it would be best to start them during the break. The first lesson went without any incident, but also without much progress. Ian could make static form around him, and give Harry or Tyler a small shock when he touched them, but no clouds formed in the sky, and the only thunder they heard turned out to be a low flying aircraft. Harry didn't really know what to think, as his first experience with the ring had been a lightning strike so powerful it destroyed his desk.

"I think we should call it a day here," Tyler said, looking thoroughly exhausted. "We'll try again in a few days."

"Can I tell Ryan about the next one?" Ian asked, Harry had agreed when Tyler decided that Ian shouldn't tell his twin about the powers the ring had until he had learned to control it. "I don't know how many times I can disappear before he starts getting suspicious."

"I don't think you should tell him just yet." Tyler said, "Your dad sent it to you, somehow, and I have to assume that he meant for you to be the one to use it. One of the rules about these rings, was that the only people who were supposed to know about them were the wearers. Our organization started during the American Revolution, they called us the Sons of Liberty during the war, but we've gone by many names since then. Eventually, a society called the Order of Owls disbanded, sometime around 1979, and we took up the name. We generally stayed apart, until a threat against the no-Maj president was made, and we had to come together to prevent it. That threat happened to be a false alarm, but after we came together we decided to form a group to protect the Presidents of the no-Maj and Wizarding communities. Eventually, the no-Maj president decided that it was best for our worlds to stay as separate as possible. So, we focused our protection on the Minister. We modelled our group based on the no-Maj secret service, the six of us stopped more attacks than you would expect, turns out crazy people are all over the place." Tyler laughed softly, probably thinking about missions with his old friends, then his face became much more serious, "Everything changed after Allyn Castle, the Minister, seemingly lost his mind. We took him down, with the help of the entire FBMI, but we were completely unaware of the other threat. Less than a week after the fight, my best friend, Dathan Sniders, got attacked by a dark cloud and abducted. We spent months trying to find his attacker, before he found us. We were staying in a hotel in California, following a lead, when it seemed like all the light in the world disappeared. It was only dark for a matter of a few minutes, but when we woke up Marshal Elliston, and Jaiden Chandler, two of the other members of our team, were gone. After that night, your parents, Zach, Kayla, Kaitlyn, and myself decided that it would be safest to go on the run and regroup. The rest you know, pretty much."

"So, he just took three of the most powerful wizards in the country without a fight?" Ian asked, after a few moments. He seemed taken aback by the sudden outpouring of information from his father's friend. "How does that even happen?"

"I'm still really confused about that part myself." Tyler admitted, "We searched the scene of the abductions and nothing was out of place, somebody even made the beds in the hotel. I believe they used Golems to repair any damage to the rooms."

Harry sat, listening to their conversation, and he thought back on his own adventures. He had spent his entire life fighting one thing or another. Voldemort, obviously, was the worst of them, but there were others, like the Jennings brothers, Amadeus and Loegaire. The pair had been Death Eaters, but the lowest level of them, and they hadn't been called to the battle at Hogwarts. They weren't even on the Ministry's radar, until they started kidnapping muggle children and using the Imperius curse to send them home with instructions to kill their families. Harry and Ron caught up to them for the first time after a six month investigation. The duel that erupted was, by all accounts, spectacular to watch. Harry and Ron had only been Aurors for a few years at that point, but they had seen more combat that most of the department combined. The brothers managed to slip away and evade capture for more than two more years after that, and they wreaked havoc on the muggles in Britain. They never killed a single witch or wizard in their time, and even amassed quite a following during their reign of terror. Their following became their downfall, though. Draco Malfoy had contacted Harry one day, saying that he had been approached by the Jennings brothers. He allowed the brothers to hold one of their meetings in his home, and alerted Harry. That night, Amadeus was killed and Loegaire was captured, along with their entire following.

Harry pushed the thought from his mind, as the shadows of all of the children flew past, apparently, a game of quidditch was about to begin. He smiled and turned to Tyler and Ian, who were looking up at the flock, "Why don't you go ahead and get your broom," Tyler was saying, "we'll pick this back up in a couple days."

Tyler disappeared at a sprint, but reappeared a few moments later, joining in the game. It looked to be the Potter/Weasleys versus the Americans, who were holding their own incredibly well, especially considering they came from the United States, where quidditch often took a back seat to Quodpot. Harry watched as James raced Tyler's son, Payton, chasing the snitch. Ginny had gotten quite a few professional level snitches for James to practice with, and judging by the struggle the two children were having to gain any ground on it, they had decided to use one of them today. Harry lost track of time as he watched them play, eventually James managed to catch the snitch, but Payton kept up incredibly well. "What a game," Tyler said, Harry hadn't even realized he had stayed to watch.

"Any idea who won?" Harry asked, James had ended the game, but both teams seemed to be celebrating.

Tyler shrugged, "I'm sure we'll find out at dinner."

As it turned out, nobody knew who won even after dinner. The entire night was dominated by arguments about the final score. They couldn't seem to agree, James claimed the final score was 400-380, but Harry never really trusted James to keep score. The Americans were claiming that the game ended at 390-360, which Harry secretly thought was more likely. After what seemed like hours of argument, Ginny lost her patience with the conversation. "We'll replay the game tomorrow, and I'll keep score." This seemed to appease the children, who wouldn't ever turn down an excuse to play quidditch instead of finishing schoolwork or doing chores.

The next days passed without incident, Ian began to gain more control over his ring's power, he could encase himself in static, which he joked made him look like something called a Saiyon. Harry had asked what the word meant, but the explanation had made his head hurt, so he had just let it be. The game ended with James once again catching the snitch, but the Weasleys losing the game by 40 points. Harry also learned that the reason the children were so invested in who won or lost the first game was a bet that they had made. Two days after the lost bet, Harry had looked out of his window to see the entire losing team flying in circles over the snowy ground, in nothing but their underwear. James seemed to be taking it all in stride, though, he was flying much higher than everyone else, only flying down to joke with his cousins, who didn't seem to be taking it all that well.

On Christmas morning, Harry woke to the sounds of the children already making an ungodly mess out of his house with their new gifts. _Hopefully George didn't send anything too insane this year._ He was thinking this, as an impressive castle made entirely of exploding snap cards collapsed. This, of course, set off a chain reaction within the rest of the cards, and Lily, who had been building it, was so startled that she jumped up and landed on the roof in a display of accidental magic. She stood on the roof for a few moments, examining the room from her new place on the roof, before she fell headfirst toward the ground. Harry reflexively cast a nonverbal cushioning charm and she landed lightly on the ground.

James and Albus were watching miniature quidditch players fly around a small pitch. Ron and George had created them on one of Ron's whims, and the small sets of players had become hugely popular in the last two years. He had gotten both of his sons their favorite teams, James' Appleby Arrows were trailing Albus' Tutshill Tornadoes by nearly sixty points. Both boys were shouting instructions at their players, which were enchanted to, at least somewhat, follow their owner's commands. George said that he had modelled them after Wizard's Chess pieces. The players also got better as they played more games, and the players were interchangeable, so that the owner could buy more players and put them in their squad. As he was watching, Albus' Seeker broke into a dive and caught the snitch before James' seeker had even seen it. James yelling at his players reminded Harry of Oliver Wood during his Hogwarts years, and he chuckled. Albus' team had landed just in front of him and they were all celebrating when Hugo appeared in the fireplace with his Cannons set under his arm.

"I'll play Hugo next," James said, clearly wanting to put his defeat behind him. "He's got the Cannons, so it shouldn't be too hard."

Hugo didn't take offense to this, and began unpacking his set before the next member of his family arrived. It was Ron.

"Already at it, then." He said, laughing. "Don't let me down now, Cannons."

Hermoine and Rose came through the fireplace soon after Ron had, Rose and Albus moved to one of the couches and started looking through their new books. Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermoine all moved to the kitchen. Harry heard "Oh, no fair! You've got Krum!" from James as they entered the kitchen.

"He's not going to have a good time with the Arrows," Ron said, "Galvin Gudgeon is ancient, especially for a seeker."

"Galvin's a fine seeker," Ginny said, "James is just an abysmal coach, I'm afraid."

"I heard that!" James' voice carried into the kitchen, "Galvin, move! Krum's already seen the snitch!"

"It's going to be a long holiday." Ginny said.

"I'm afraid it's about to get even longer," said a familiar voice, Harry looked up and saw Adam standing in his kitchen. _That's not right,_ thought Harry, _Adam's dead._ Harry drew his wand and raised it, his wife and friends followed suit, and Adam smiled. "Those won't be necessary," Adam said, "You see, I'm not physically here, I can't even see where I sent this. Anyway, I'm just here to see if you've thought any more about my offer?"

Harry laughed, "You mean the one where I have to hand over an innocent man, and you'll leave my family alone. Yeah, not going to happen. I learned pretty early on that negotiating with psychopaths never turns out quite the way they say it will."

"I assure you, the man you're harboring is far from innocent," Adam said, his friendly demeanor disappearing all at once. "But, that's beside the point. You obviously know that refusing my request will make you my top priority. The chaos I will bring into your life will make your years running from Voldemort seem like a cake walk."

"Poor form, making threats you can't make good on." Said Harry, laughing sarcastically. "You brought up Tom, he had a tendency to do the exact same thing, you know how that turned out?"

"Tom Riddle was a delusional lunatic," said the projection, "He was lost from the moment he cast the first curse on you. I, however, am not on some crusade against the no-Maj population. I think you call them muggles. I actually think that some of their inventions work better than ours. Take the fidelius charm that your home is under, it blocks anyone from finding the house, or using magic against it." He paused, putting on a look of contemplation, "I wonder, though, if a bomb were to go off, say, right in the road in front of the location that used to be your house, would the charm protect you from that?" As soon as he said this Harry and Ron sprinted into the room where the children were still playing.

"Everybody down!" Harry yelled, diving on top of James and Hugo, and casting a shield charm, just as the windows of the house exploded inward.


	17. A New Beginning, Literally

Hi everyone, this isn't technically a new chapter, as I haven't updated this book in over a year. I have decided, however, to rewrite and finish the story as a completely new Fic, it has the same name, just followed by (Remastered). I 'll be spending the next couple of weeks or so catching it up to where this one left off, and then we'll be finishing the story. There will be some differences in the chapters as I don't think some of the things in this book actually work with my new vision for how everything should turn out. The first two chapters are already uploaded and Chapter 3 will be up tomorrow, so if you're interested in finishing this strange, long journey with me, I'll see you on the other story. Sorry to keep you waiting for so long.


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